Related quotes
Charity, caring, loving-kindness
Translators live a life
of great blessing, and of frustration:
they live uniquely in the mind
of the great ones they translate – and yet
are destined never fully to reveal this
in their native language, to their fellows,
countrymen and women;
must leave it to the reader, to restore to life.
We too, translators –
words into deeds, deeds into experience,
experience then taught in words…so -
charity, care, or loving-kindness?
maybe we are old, and we uncared for;
maybe we are young, and we uncared for..
but, caring care – this is so beautiful;
to receive; even just to watch; or best, to give…
and too good not to know…
so, we might follow that wonderful advice:
‘What you think you lack – give that! ’
and bestow all our ‘agape’, our ‘charitas’ –
the word which taxed - along with ‘faith’ and ‘hope’ -
the translators of the Bible…
that care that cares not to be care-worn…
we, to translate word to deed,
love, to loving-kindness;
love, to boundless care.
(for Mary N., too, who knows this)
poem by Michael Shepherd

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Away Down South In The Land of Traitors
Away down South in the land of traitors,
Rattlesnakes and alligators,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Where cotton's king and men are chattels,
Union boys will win the battles,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Then we'll all go down to Dixie,
Away, away,
Each Dixie boy must understand,
That he must mind his Uncle Sam,
Away, away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie.
Away, away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie.
I wish I was in Baltimore,
I'd make Secession traitors roar,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
We'll put the traitors all to rout,
I'll bet my boots we'll whip them out,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Then they'll wish they were in Dixie,
Away, away,
Each Dixie boy must understand,
That he must mind his Uncle Sam,
Away, away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie.
Away, away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie.
Oh, may our Stars and Stripes still wave
Forever o'er the free and brave,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
And let our motto ever be -
'For Union and for Liberty!'
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Then we'll all go down to Dixie,
Away, away,
Each Dixie boy must understand,
That he must mind his Uncle Sam,
Away, away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie.
Away, away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie.
poem by Anonymous Americas

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
We are all mediators, translators.
quote by Jacques Derrida

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice.
quote by John Donne

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
General Christiaan De Wet At Doornberg
(after David Naude)
In the dust lay de Wet's son;
he prayed to God, further did not say a word,
traitors came under a white flag,
spied for the British before the battle;
it was very sad to see
while a brave man served his country.
On his hands was his own son's blood
but he still gave courage to his men
causing the British and traitors to loose,
driving them back over the Zant River
winning more fame in the world's eyes
while a brave man served his country.
The British had fled past Winburg
to avoid general de Wet's commando,
some of the traitors were very scared
when the Boer commando captured them;
in de Wet's eyes God was still providing,
while a brave man served his country.
[Reference: 'Die slag van Doornberg' ('The battle at Doornberg' by David Naude.]
poem by Gert Strydom

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Many of the Central Asians know Russian, and Ted Levin speaks it fluently. I speak Chinese, but Mongolian is completely different, so we had to have translators.
Haters
you say your boyfriends sweet and kind
but you still got your eyes on mine
your best friend's got her eyes on your
it all goes on behind closed doors
not the haters, just the hating
talkin bout us exterminating
broken promises and treaties
different life forms different species
haters
haters
haters
they dont belong anywhere
id like to see them disappear
what a waste
what a drag
haters
traitors to the human race
your one of those haters
you want my friends,you want my clothes
why dont you look in my eyes
feelin angry but ya dont know why
of envy greed and jealously
your spinning a web thats hard to see
HATERS
Haters
they dont belong anywhere
id like to see them disapear
what a waste
what a drag
haters
traitors to the human race
your one of those haters
and when your nice its just a pose
keep your lies out of my reality
your the queen of super-fic-ial-ity
the things you do should be a crime
you build up walls no one can climb
as if you think that words dont hurt
you look so clean but you spread your dirt
because you wish you were someone else
dont spit on me and shame your self
it all goes on behind close doors
and when your nice its just a pose
your one of those haters
traitors to the human race
haters
what a drag
id like to see them disappear
they dont belong anywhere
haters
haters
haters
ready for the ............
any shape any size
id like to see them disapear
haters
haters
haters
haters
traitors
HATERS
song performed by by Hilary Duff

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The biggest markets for my books outside the UK are France and Italy, and those are the two countries where I also have the closest personal relationships with my translators - I don't know whether that's a coincidence, or if there's something to be learned from it.
quote by Jonathan Coe

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Whom do you want to sit with?
Sitting with wise people makes you wise
Sitting with rich people increases your pride
Sitting with unfortunates makes you humble
Sitting with ignorant makes you more puzzle
Sitting with traitors can make you traitors too
Along whom do you sit with, it is up to you!
poem by Abdul Wahab

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
To His Worthy Friend Doctor Witty Upon His Translation Of The Popular Errors
Sit further, and make room for thine own fame,
Where just desert enrolles thy honour'd Name
The good Interpreter. Some in this task
Take of the Cypress vail, but leave a mask,
Changing the Latine, but do more obscure
That sence in English which was bright and pure.
So of Translators they are Authors grown,
For ill Translators make the Book their own.
Others do strive with words and forced phrase
To add such lustre, and so many rayes,
That but to make the Vessel shining, they
Much of the precious Metal rub away.
He is Translations thief that addeth more,
As much as he that taketh from the Store
Of the first Author. Here he maketh blots
That mends; and added beauties are but spots.
Caelia whose English doth more richly flow
Then Tagus, purer then dissolved snow,
And sweet as are her lips that speak it, she
Now learns the tongues of France and Italy;
But she is Caelia still: no other grace
But her own smiles commend that lovely face;
Her native beauty's not Italianated,
Nor her chast mind into the French translated:
Her thoughts are English, though her sparkling wit
With other Language doth them fitly fit.
Translators learn of her: but stay I slide
Down into Error with the Vulgar tide;
Women must not teach here: the Doctor doth
Stint them to Cawdles Almond-milk, and Broth.
Now I reform, and surely so will all
Whose happy Eyes on thy Translation fall,
I see the people hastning to thy Book,
Liking themselves the worse the more they look,
And so disliking, that they nothing see
Now worth the liking, but thy Book and thee.
And (if I Judgement have) I censure right;
For something guides my hand that I must write.
You have Translations statutes best fulfil'd.
That handling neither sully nor would guild
poem by Andrew Marvell

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Brow
Brow, row, bow, or, rob!
And like something in the soup of love;
But you have deceived the whole world with your works.
Rabboni,
Translators,
Retained!
But they will kiss each other;
And like the work of the social group around you,
But the juicy first kiss is still in your mind! !
poem by Edward Kofi Louis

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Writers rush in where publishers fear to tread and where translators fear to tread.
quote by Guillermo Cabrera Infante

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The treason pleases, but the traitors are odious.

Yes, you admire the fighters, but you follow the traitors!
aphorism by Octav Bibere

Submitted by Octav Bibere
Vote! | Copy!

I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery.
Among famous traitors of history one might mention the weather.
quote by Ilka Chase

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Imogen: Men's vows are women's traitors!
line from Cymbeline, Act III, Scene 4, script by William Shakespeare (1611)

Submitted by Dan Costinaş
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian

We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.
quote by C.S. Lewis

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Those who knowingly allow the King to err deserve the same punishment as traitors.
quote by Alfonso X of Castile

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!