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“Among all books, those of reasoning seem the most susceptible of good translations. Reason and morality belong to all countries. The genius of language, this bane of translators, is less noticeable in books where only ideas have to be conveyed, and where style is not the first merit, whereas works of imagination can be rarely transmitted from one person to another, for, in order to translate a good poet, you would have to be as good a one as he.” — Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil du Châtelet
Among all books, those of reasoning seem the most susceptible of good translations. Reason and morality belong to all countries. The genius of language, this bane of translators, is less noticeable in books where only ideas have to be conveyed, and where style is not the first merit, whereas works of imagination can be rarely transmitted from one person to another, for, in order to translate a good poet, you would have to be as good a one as he.