文学的工具是语言文字。我们第一须认识语言文字，其次须有运用语言文字的技巧。这事看来似乎很容易，因为一般人日常都在运用语言文字；但是实在极难，因为文学要用平常的语言文字产生不平常的效果。
The implement of literature is the language. First we have to know the language, and then we must be armed with the craft of using it. The thing looks easy, as all of us use the language every day, but it is really difficult, because literature is something that is expressed by ordinary language to produce an extraordinary effect.
文学家对语言文字的了解，必须比一般人都较精确，然后可以运用自如。他必须懂得字的形声义，字的组织以及音义与组织对于读者所产生的影响。这主要包含语文学、逻辑学、文法、美学和心理学。
A man of letters must apprehend the language more precisely and thoroughly than the ordinary people, so that he can use it at his will. He must understand the form, the sound, and the meaning of a word, as well as the effects of the arrangements of words in connexion with the sound and meaning to be left by the reader. This will involve such knowledge as philology, logic, grammar, aesthetics, and psychology.
来源：钱歌川《翻译的技巧》
