Writing is probably one-fifth coming up with the stuff, and four-fifths self-editing again and again and again.
David MitchellAny adaptation is a translation, and there is such a thing as an unreadably faithful translation; and I believe a degree of reinterpretatio n for the new language may be not only inevitable but desirable.
David MitchellTorturous advances won over generations can be lost by a single stroke of a myopic president's pen or a vainglorious general's sword.
David Mitchell