language Quotes

Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.

I strive to be brief but I become obscure.

In an easy matter. Anybody can be eloquent.

All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.

Good music is very close to primitive language.

Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.

I like dialogue that is slightly more brittle than life. I have always admired and wished to write one of those 1940s film scripts where every line is written with a sharpness and economy that is frankly artificial.

From as long as, literally as far back as I can remember I've liked puns, word jokes, I can literally recall looking at a comic at the age of six or seven and I remember what I enjoyed and what it was precisely and how the joke worked.

I went to an English school and was brought up in English. So I don't feel Czech.

You do know what's coming up when you're translating. I suppose the concentration, then, is on finding a formulation which is speakable and in character - and economical as well, actually.