“You know the opinion of Cervantes? He said that reading a translation is like examining the back of a piece of tapestry.”
“[reading a work in translation] is like viewing a piece of Flemish tapestry on the wrong side.”
“I'd like to hear your opinion on this piece of Beethoven. And remember, it is not Beethoven who is being examined here.”
“Living as he now lived was like reading a good book in a poor translation...”
“To read is to translate, for no two persons' experiences are the same. A bad reader is like a bad translator: he interprets literally when he ought to paraphrase and paraphrases when he ought to interpret literally.”
“He read reports, examined evidence, and poured more reports up the chain than the Pentagon could read. Nothing short of a human sieve. But in the end he was just one small piece on this game board called war. End of story”