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Words are living things, full of shades of meaning, full of associations; and, what is more, they are apt to change their significance from one generation to the next. The translator who understands his job feels, constantly, like Alice in Wonderland trying to play croquet with flamingoes for mallets and hedgehogs for balls; words are for ever eluding his grasp.

— Ronald Knox On Englishing the Bible (1949)

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More quotes by Ronald Knox

Comparative religion is an admirable recipe for making people comparatively religious.

The Hidden Stream (1952)

Only man has dignity; only man, therefore, can be funny.

If you have a sloppy religion you get a sloppy atheism.

There once was a man who said: "God
Must think it exceedingly odd
If he finds that this tree
Continues to be
When there's no one about in the Quad."

When suave politeness, temp'ring bigot zeal
Corrected I believe to One does feel.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ronald Knox (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.