Skip to content

Works which consist of fact and detail demand a more scrupulous fidelity than those of which the basis is sentiment.

— Alexander Fraser Tytler Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791)

Another quote →

More quotes by Alexander Fraser Tytler

Patriotism always exists in the greatest degree in rude nations, and in an early period of society.

An ordinary translator sinks under the energy of his original: the man of genius frequently rises above it.

Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791)

The utility of translations is universally felt, and therefore there is a continual demand for them. But this very circumstance has thrown the practice of translation into mean and mercenary hands.

Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791)

In Latin two negatives make an affirmative; but it is otherwise in Greek, they only give force to the negation ...

Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791)

It is always a fault when the translator adds to the sentiment of the original author, what does not strictly accord with his characteristic mode of thinking, or expressing himself.

Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791)

All Alexander Fraser Tytler quotes →

Attribution

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