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When translating prose dialogue one ought to make the characters say things that people talking English could conceivably say. One ought to hear them talking, just as a novelist hears his characters talk.

— Arthur Waley

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More quotes by Arthur Waley

Though the snow-drifts of Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

Ceaseless as the interminable voices of the bell-cricket, all night till dawn my tears flow.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

It is in general the unexplored that attracts us.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

'Nothing in the world is difficult,' said the Patriarch, 'it is only our own thoughts that make things seem so.'

Monkey: Folk Novel of China (1942)

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Attribution

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