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Every act of translation requires sacrifice—it is this harsh truth that made me fall in love. There exists no direct correlation between the words of one language and another, and no translation can be entirely faithful to its original. So, while a person can more or less bridge the gap between languages using words, there is always some deeper meaning left unsaid, a secret invisible to those who only have one language with which to navigate the world.
This is what has happened with the Bible through the centuries.
“People shouldn’t fear their prime ministers, Vivien,” he says. “Prime ministers should fear their people.”
I’m not surprised to hear you call something fearmongering just because you don’t understand it,”
Atlas, languages are like that. You can say the same thing a hundred different ways, and occasionally one of those ways is so unique to the translator that it is impossible to reproduce. No other translator will use the same words, the same rhythm, the same turn of phrase ever again. Translating is creating, too.
“One of the most important steps in a coup is to gain control of the media,”
A fact that I am, unfortunately, well aware of right now
“I’m saying,” Atlas says pointedly, “that when you oppress a community for centuries you can’t exactly be surprised when it rises up against you.”
I love languages, but I’ve never thought of them as being a way to love. They’re practical, quantifiable, translatable. Everything love is not.
“To control languages, to control words, is to control what people know.”
Bilingual education must be abolished in order to rapidly curb unpatriotic influences.
It's scary how much this book is depicting real life United States right now!
“I have no interest in political debates—” “Only because you are privileged enough not to be concerned by them.”
I've had this conversation so many times in the past year. I'm weary.
“Every time we shed, we leave an old self behind. Every time we shed, it is a chance to be someone new. A chance to change our minds.”
“You’re right that what the rebels are trying to achieve will take years, because inequality is so deeply entrenched in the foundations of our society that it’s going to need to be dug out, rock by prejudiced rock.”
“Peace isn’t peace if it’s only given to some,”
Damn, this is a hard hitting line
“If you were all bad, if you didn’t have any goodness in you, then how would you even know what badness is? Without goodness, there’d be nothing to measure badness against. Badness wouldn’t be bad—it would just be a normal state of being. I think you have to have both good and bad inside you to know the difference, Featherswallow. To know which side you want to act on. So, if you feel guilty for what you did, that’s a sure sign there’s goodness in you.”
We live in a world that permits everything but forgives nothing.
