The truth about translations

In Undset's foreword to her own translation of Chesterton's Everlasting Man, she wrote of the challenge of rendering the master of paradox into Norwegian:

"What some Frenchman said about translation particularly applies to translations of Chesterton: namely that they are like women - if they are beautiful, they are not faithful, but if they are faithful, they are not beautiful. I myself have time and again been at a loss as to how faithfully I should follow Chesterton's text, which is English for Englishmen."

I can attest the same words apply to the one who wrote them. Just exchange "Undset" for "Chesterton" and "Norwegian" for "English.