I wasn't driven into medicine by a social conscience but by rampant curiosity.
Jonathan MillerRead
What makes literature interesting is that it does not survive its translation. The characters in a novel are made out of the sentences. That's what their substance is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Literature loses its essence in translation, as the characters are inherently tied to their original language.
Jonathan Miller highlights the unique nature of literature, emphasizing that the depth and intricacies of characters are deeply rooted in the original language's sentences. When literature is translated, the original nuances and subtleties are often lost, leading to a different interpretation and experience for the reader, which raises questions about the authenticity and fidelity of literary works in translation.
Themes
LiteratureTranslationCharactersLanguageEssence
In practice
Example use cases
In a literary discussion about the challenges of translating classic works.
More from Jonathan Miller
All quotes βYou spend ten years of your life being trained to do one thing, and you're being taught to think that it's the most serious thing that anyone could possibly do, and then suddenly you find yourself doing something that in some respects is the epitome of frivolity.
Jonathan MillerRead
Similar quotes
It is very true to say that work done by writers is quite often an attempt to give solid expression to that which is bothering them... They feel they have got it right if they express the stress.
Seamus HeaneyRead
But if a stranger in the train asks me my occupation, I never answer "writer" for fear that he may go on to ask me what I write, and to answer "poetry" would embarrass us both, for we both know that nobody can earn a living simply by writing poetry.
W. H. AudenRead
A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.
Abraham MaslowRead
I see my finished platinum print (in the viewfinder) in all its desired qualities, before my exposure.
Edward WestonRead
We are trying to communicate that which lies in our deepest heart, which has no words, which can only be hinted at through the means of a story. And somehow, miraculously, a story that comes from deep in my heart calls from a reader that which is deepest in his or her heart, and together from our secret hidden selves we create a story that neither of us could have told alone.
Katherine PatersonRead
If I go three days without vocalizing, the voice is gone.
Luciano PavarottiRead