Quote#Speech
That servile path thou nobly dost decline
Quote byJohn Denham · 1615–1669
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: To Sir Richard Fanshaw (1648), line 15.
English (original)
That servile path thou nobly dost decline Of tracing word by word, and line by line; A new and nobler way thou dost pursue To make translations, and translators too; They but preserve the ashes, thou the flame, True to his sense, but truer to his fame.
— John Denham
More from John Denham
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But whither am I strayed? I need not raise Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise; Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built; Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, Must have their …
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