Translate Quotes

“One word absent from a sentence, or misinterpreted incorrectly, can change the entire meaning of a sentence. One word can change the meaning of everything. Before you believe anything about God or anybody, ask yourself how well do you trust the transmitter, translator or interpreter. And if you have never met them, then how do you know if the knowledge you acquired is even right? One hundred and twenty-five years following every major event in history, all remaining witnesses will have died. How well do you trust the man who has stored his version of a story? And how can you put that much faith into someone you don't know?”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“As there can be no translation from one language into another which shall not scant the meaning somewhat, or enlarge upon it, so there is no language which can render thought without a jarring and a harshness somewhere.”
― Samuel Butler, Erewhon

“What is a whore?"
Unsurprisingly, that hadn't been one of the words we had shared over the last span of days. For half a moment I considered lying, but there was no way I could manage it. "He says your mother is a person men pay money to have sex with."
Tempi turned back to the mercenary and nodded graciously. "You are very kind. I thank you.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

“What does... bebita mean?”
Rider blinked and his lips slowly parted. Surprise splashed across his face. Yeah, I’d spoken in front of Hector. I felt sort of giddy. Might’ve only been a handful of words, but it was the first time I spoke to him. It was the first time I’d spoken to anyone in front of Rider since we crossed paths again. He’d never been around when Jayden had.
Biting down on my lip to stop from grinning, I dared a peek at Hector.
His light green eyes were wide, then he smiled broadly. “Means, uh, baby girl.”
“Oh,” I whispered, feeling my cheeks heat. That was kind of nice.
“It also means something he doesn’t need to be calling you,” Rider added, and my gaze darted back to him.
Hector chuckled, and when I glanced at him, he was grinning. One arm was flung over the back of his seat. “My bad,” he murmured, but nothing about the way he looked suggested he felt any guilt.
My lips twitched into a small grin.
Rider cocked his head to the side. “Uh-huh.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Problem with Forever

“Es como vomitar un huevo a la escocesa podrido: siempre crees que has terminado y siempre hay más.”
― David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

“Hey, ≤i≥ mami,” ≤/i≥ Hector called out, his grin spreading as he bit down on his lower lip. ≤i≥ “Que cuerpo tan brutal.”≤/i≥
I had no idea what he’d just said, but it seemed to be directed at me.
“Shut up,” Rider replied, planting his large hand in Hector’s face and shoving him back into the driver’s side of the car. ≤i≥ “No la mires.” ≤/i≥

***

“Wait,” I said, surprising the crap out of myself as she faced me, eyes wide. My cheeks heated. “What...does no la mires mean?” I’d totally butchered the words like a typical white girl who couldn’t speak any form of Spanish would.
Her brows shot up again. “Why are you asking that?”
I raised my shoulders.
“Did someone say that to you?” When I didn’t answer, because I was no longer sure I wanted to know what it meant, she sighed. “It basically translates to don’t look at her.” ”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Problem with Forever

“To translate is to betray at the borders, it's to cheat, it's to trade one sentence for another. To translate is one of the only human activities in which one is required to lie about the details to convey the truth at large.”
― David Diop, At Night All Blood is Black

“Supongo que si un hombre ha estado dentro de una con bastante frecuencia, lleva un tiempo librarse de él.”
― David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

“Los hobbies son por placer, pero los rituales te mantienen en marcha.”
― David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

“La persuación no es cuestión de fuerza: es enseñarle a una persona una puerta y hacer que esté desesperado por abrirla.”
― David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

“Esto no es lujuria. La lujuria desea, hace lo obvio y se agazapa de nuevo en el bosque. El amor es más glotón. El amor quiere atención a todas horas; protección; anillos, votos, cuentas compartidas; velas perfumadas en los cumpleaños; seguros de vida. Bebés. El amor es un dictador.”
― David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

“There is no right or wrong; there is no one truth, there are lots of truths. And you girls should translate the world into as many different languages as possible. If you see the world in just one language, your world becomes too small.”
― Jaclyn Moriarty, The Year of Secret Assignments

“Velutha looked down at Ambassador Insect in his arms He put her down. Shaking too.
"And look at you!" he said, looking at her ridiculous frothy frock "So beautiful! Getting married?"
Rahel lunged at his armpits and tickled him mercilessly. Ickilee ickilee ickilee!
"I saw you yesterday," she said.
"Where?" Velutha made his voice high and surprised.
"Liar" Rahel said. "Liar and pretender. I did see you. You were a Communist and had a shirt and a flag. And you ignored me."
"Aiyyo kashtam," Velutha said. "Would I do that? You tell me, would Velutha ever do that? It must've been my Long-lost Twin brother."
"Which Long-lost Twin brother?"
"Urumban, silly... The one who lives in Kochi."
"Who Urumban?" Then she saw the twinkle. "Liar! You haven't got a Twin brother! It wasn't Urumban! It was you!"
Velutha laughed. He had a lovely laugh that he really meant
"Wasn't me," he said. "I was sick in bed."
"See, you’re smiling!" Rahel said. "That means it was you
Smiling means 'It was you.'"
"That's only in English'’ Velutha said. "In Malayalam my
teacher always said that 'Smiling means it wasn’t me.'"
It took Rahel a moment to sort that one out. She lunged at him once again. Ickilee ickilee ickilee! (169(”
― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

“You have two things of value: your monastery and your people. Translate the book for me, and I'll let you keep one. Which will it be?”
― Faith Erin Hicks, The Stone Heart

“I wish I had a dictionary to translate mixed signals.”
― Nitya Prakash

“But what I care most about is when the reader is finished with my work they can say, I don't know the particulars, but I know that emotion.”
― Michael Ramos

“Jesse: You puzzle me
Jillian: Isn't that a nice thing to say?
Jesse: There it is again. Puzzlement.
Jillian: I'm an open book, Jesse .
Jesse: Women always say tha, but doesn't matter if the books open if it's written in a language you can't read.
Jillian: You seem to do alright
Jesse: No. There isn't a man alive who can translate that book”
― Maureen Child, Rich Rancher's Redemption

“The flesh alone can translate the unspoken anguish of our deepest selves.”
― Laurence Galian, Crossing the Forbidden Highway: The Untold Story of Orgone, Body Therapy, and Suppressed Emotion