"...if I find him [the author] here, speaking in some language not his own, I will have no respect for him at all; but if he speaks in his own language, I bow down to him."

"Well, I have him in Italian," said the barber, "but I don't understand it."

"There's no reason you should," replied the priest, "and here we would pardon the captain if he had not brought it to Spain and translated it into Castilian, for he took away a good deal of its original value, which is what all who attempt to translate books of poetry into another language will do as well: no matter the care they use and the skill they show, they will never achieve the quality the verses had in their dirst birth. In fact, I say that this book, and all those you find that deal with the matter of France, should be thrown into a dry well and kept there until we can agree on what should be done with them..."


The Priest and the Barber, conversing while they examine Don Quixote's library in De Cervantes, Miguel (2003.) Don Quixote. (Edith Grossman, Trans.). New York City, NY: Harper Collins (Original work published 1605, 1615) p.48