Yes/No

Random quote of the day:


Is there really any difference between a yes
And a no said insincerely?

—Tao Te Ching - 20
(tr. by Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer, and Jay Ramsay)


The interesting thing about this one is that there are a number of translations out there—thousands of gazillions—each with its own unique (or not so unique) spin on this. Here's a sampling:


Is there a difference between yes and no?
tr. Gia-fu Feng and Jane English


How much difference between yes and no?
tr. Ursula K. Le Guin


What is the difference between assent and denial?
tr. Peter A. Merel


What difference between yes and no?
tr. Stephen Mitchell



Which means, I guess, that translation says more about the translator than the text being translated. The same, I suppose, could be said about illustration.


( Illustrated version. )