Today, I have been doing an 'as-it-is' translation of a non-English text. I have asked the same question before but I think that then I was unable to provide a context for my question to the answerers. Actually, some doctrinal quotations are given there and the original writer or researcher, before quoting them, has written many times sentences like "If said in the words of …" or "If quoted the words of …"
It was suggested to me here that, as such sentences may show that something was already said and I'm going to quote them, I am better to use sentences like "In the words of …" or "… says" etc. One of my friends, not here, suggested to me "According to the words of …" or "As per the quoted words of …" I got confused with "As per the quoted words of …" As it is an as-it-is translation, I might have chosen to do it my own way, but I want to consider this seriously. I am still wondering whether "If quoted the words of …" will be considered wrong. And I think "quoted words" means "the original writer has quoted it from somewhere else." In short, I've been looking for a lot of alternates for "If quoted the words of …"
Best Answer
It is indeed much more natural to just say
You could also use the more direct
or