James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.
La Fontaine
A l’œuvre on connaît l’artisan—By the work one knows the workman.
Aucun chemin de fleurs ne conduit à la gloire—No path of flowers conducts to glory.
C’est double plaisir de tromper le trompeur—it is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
De loin c’est quelque chose, et de près ce n’est rien—At a distance it is something, at hand nothing.
Diversité, c’est ma devise—Variety, that is my motto.
Entre nos ennemis les plus à craindre sont souvent les plus petits—Of our enemies, the smallest are often the most to be dreaded.
Et c’est être innocent que d’être malheureux—And misfortune is the badge of innocence.
Et je sais, sur ce fait, / Bon nombre d’hommes qui sont femmes—And I know a great many men who in this particular are women.
Every man turns his dreams into realities as far as he can. Man is cold as ice to the truth, but as fire to falsehood.
Example is a hazardous lure; where the wasp gets through, the gnat sticks.
Friendship is the shadow of the evening, which strengthens with the setting sun of life.
Hé, mon ami, tire-moi du danger; tu feras après ta harangue—Hey! my friend, help me out of my danger first; you can make your speech afterwards.
Honteux comme un renard qu’une poule aurait pris—Sheepish as a fox that has been taken in by a fowl.
Il connaît l’univers et ne se connaît pas—He knows everything and does not know himself.
Il me faut du nouveau, n’en fût-il point au monde—I must have something new, even were there none in the world.
Il n’est rien d’inutile aux personnes de sens—There is nothing useless to people of sense.
Il ne faut jamais se moquer des misérables, / Car qui peut s’assurer d’être toujours heureux?—We must never laugh at the miserable, for who can be sure of being always happy?
It is of no use running; to set out betimes is the main point.
Je laisse à penser la vie / Que firent ces deux amis—I leave you to imagine the festive time these two friends (the town mouse and the country mouse) had of it.
Je plie et ne romps pas—I bend, but don’t break.
Je suis oiseau, voyez mes áiles! / Je suis souris; vivent les rats—I am a bird, see my wing! I am a mouse; long live the rats.
Jean s’en alla comme il était venu—John went away as he came.His epitaph, written by himself.
L’enseigne fait la chalandise—A good sign attracts custom.
L’homme est de glace aux vérités, / Il est de feu pour les mensonges—Man is as ice to what is true, and as fire to falsehood.
La défense est un charme; on dit qu’elle assaisonne les plaisirs, et surtout ceux que l’amour nous donne—Prohibition acts as a charm; it is said to give a zest to pleasures, especially to those which love imparts.
La mort ne surprend point le sage; / Il est toujours prêt à partir, / S’étant su lui-même avertir / Du temps où l’on se doit résoudre à ce passage—Death is no surprise to the wise man; he is always ready to depart, having learnt to anticipate the time when be must make up his mind to take this last journey.
La plus belle victoire est de vaincre son cœur—The noblest victory is to conquer one’s own heart.
La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure—The argument of the strongest is always the best, i.e., has most weight.
Laissez dire les sots, le savoir a son prix—Let ignorance talk, learning has its value.
Laissez-leur prendre un pied chez vous, / Ils en auront bientôt pris quatre—Let them take one foot in your house, and they will soon have taken four (give them an inch and they will take an ell).
Le médicin Tant-pis et le médicin Tantmieux—The pessimist and the optimist (lit. Doctor So-much-the-worse and Doctor So-much-the-better).
Le moindre grain de mil serait bien mieux mon affaire—The smallest grain of millet would serve my needs better.“The Cock and the Pearl.”
Le plus âne des trois n’est pas celui qu’on pense—The greatest ass of the three is not the one who seems so.“The Miller, his Son, and his Ass.”
Le plus semblable aux morts meurt le plus à regret—He who most resembles the dead dies with most reluctance.
Le trépas vient tout guérir; / Mais ne bougeons d’où nous sommes: / Plutôt souffrir que mourir, / C’est la devise des hommes—Death comes to cure everything, but let us not stir from where we are. “Endure sooner than die,” is the proper device for man.
Le vivre et le couvert, que faut-il davantage?—Life and good fare, what more do we need?“The Rat in Retreat.”
Les délicats sont malheureux, / Rien ne saurait les satisfaire—The fastidious are unfortunate; nothing satisfies them.
Les gens sans bruit sont dangereux—Still people are dangerous.
Lynx envers nos pareils, et taupes envers nous—Lynx-eyed to our neighbours, and mole-eyed to ourselves.
Ne faut-il que délibérer? / La cour en conseillers foisonne: / Est-il besoin d’exécuter? / L’on ne rencontre personne—Is a matter to be discussed? the council chamber is full of advisers. Is there something to be done? the chamber is empty.
Ne forçons point notre talent; / Nous ne ferions rien avec grâce—Let us not force our faculty; we shall in that case do nothing to good effect.
Ni l’or ni la grandeur ne nous rendent heureux—Neither wealth nor greatness render us happy.
Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend.
Nous n’écoutons d’instincts que ceux qui sont les nôtres, / Et ne croyons le mal que quand il est venu—We listen to no instincts but such as are our own, and we believe in no misfortune till it comes.
On a souvent besoin d’un plus petit que soi—One has often need of one inferior to one’s self.
On devient innocent quand on est malheureux—We become innocent when we are unfortunate.
On ne peut contenter tout le monde et son père—There is no pleasing everybody and one’s father.
Patience et longueur de temps / Font plus que force ni que rage—Patience and length of time accomplish more than violence and rage.
Plus fait douceur que violence—Gentleness does more than violence.
Quiconque est loup, agisse en loup—Whoever is a wolf acts as a wolf.
Religious contention is the devil’s harvest.
Rien ne pése tant qu’un secret—Nothing presses so heavy on us as a secret.
Rien ne sert de courir: il faut partir à point—It’s no use running; only setting out betimes.
Rogues are always found out in some way. Whoever is a wolf will act as a wolf; that is the most certain of all things.
Se retirer dans un fromage de Hollande—To retire into a Dutch cheese, i.e., to be contented.
Si ce n’est toi, c’est ton frère—If you did not do it, it was your brother.
Still people are dangerous.
Tirer les marrons du feu avec la patte du chat—To make a cat’s paw of any one (lit. to take the chestnuts from the fire with a cat’s paw.
Tout faiseur de journaux doit tribut au malin—Every journalist owes tribute to the evil one.
Tout flatteur vît au dépens de celui qui l’écoute—Every flatterer lives at the expense of him who listens to him.
War has its sweets, Hymen its alarms.
We always take credit for the good, and attribute the bad to fortune.