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| A l’œuvre on connaît l’artisan—By the work one knows the workman. | 1 |
| Aucun chemin de fleurs ne conduit à la gloire—No path of flowers conducts to glory. | 2 |
| C’est double plaisir de tromper le trompeur—it is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver. | 3 |
| De loin c’est quelque chose, et de près ce n’est rien—At a distance it is something, at hand nothing. | 4 |
| Diversité, c’est ma devise—Variety, that is my motto. | 5 |
| Entre nos ennemis les plus à craindre sont souvent les plus petits—Of our enemies, the smallest are often the most to be dreaded. | 6 |
| Et c’est être innocent que d’être malheureux—And misfortune is the badge of innocence. | 7 |
| 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. | 8 |
| 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. | 9 |
| Example is a hazardous lure; where the wasp gets through, the gnat sticks. | 10 |
| Friendship is the shadow of the evening, which strengthens with the setting sun of life. | 11 |
| 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. | 12 |
| Honteux comme un renard qu’une poule aurait pris—Sheepish as a fox that has been taken in by a fowl. | 13 |
| Il connaît l’univers et ne se connaît pas—He knows everything and does not know himself. | 14 |
| Il me faut du nouveau, n’en fût-il point au monde—I must have something new, even were there none in the world. | 15 |
| Il n’est rien d’inutile aux personnes de sens—There is nothing useless to people of sense. | 16 |
| 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? | 17 |
| It is of no use running; to set out betimes is the main point. | 18 |
| 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. | 19 |
| Je plie et ne romps pas—I bend, but don’t break. | 20 |
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| 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. | 21 |
| Jean s’en alla comme il était venu—John went away as he came. His epitaph, written by himself. | 22 |
| L’enseigne fait la chalandise—A good sign attracts custom. | 23 |
| 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. | 24 |
| 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. | 25 |
| 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. | 26 |
| La plus belle victoire est de vaincre son cœur—The noblest victory is to conquer one’s own heart. | 27 |
| La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure—The argument of the strongest is always the best, i.e., has most weight. | 28 |
| Laissez dire les sots, le savoir a son prix—Let ignorance talk, learning has its value. | 29 |
| 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). | 30 |
| 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). | 31 |
| 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.” | 32 |
| 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.” | 33 |
| Le plus semblable aux morts meurt le plus à regret—He who most resembles the dead dies with most reluctance. | 34 |
| 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. | 35 |
| Le vivre et le couvert, que faut-il davantage?—Life and good fare, what more do we need? “The Rat in Retreat.” | 36 |
| Les délicats sont malheureux, / Rien ne saurait les satisfaire—The fastidious are unfortunate; nothing satisfies them. | 37 |
| Les gens sans bruit sont dangereux—Still people are dangerous. | 38 |
| Lynx envers nos pareils, et taupes envers nous—Lynx-eyed to our neighbours, and mole-eyed to ourselves. | 39 |
| 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. | 40 |
| 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. | 41 |
| Ni l’or ni la grandeur ne nous rendent heureux—Neither wealth nor greatness render us happy. | 42 |
| Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend. | 43 |
| 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. | 44 |
| On a souvent besoin d’un plus petit que soi—One has often need of one inferior to one’s self. | 45 |
| On devient innocent quand on est malheureux—We become innocent when we are unfortunate. | 46 |
| On ne peut contenter tout le monde et son père—There is no pleasing everybody and one’s father. | 47 |
| Patience et longueur de temps / Font plus que force ni que rage—Patience and length of time accomplish more than violence and rage. | 48 |
| Plus fait douceur que violence—Gentleness does more than violence. | 49 |
| Quiconque est loup, agisse en loup—Whoever is a wolf acts as a wolf. | 50 |
| Religious contention is the devil’s harvest. | 51 |
| Rien ne pése tant qu’un secret—Nothing presses so heavy on us as a secret. | 52 |
| Rien ne sert de courir: il faut partir à point—It’s no use running; only setting out betimes. | 53 |
| 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. | 54 |
| Se retirer dans un fromage de Hollande—To retire into a Dutch cheese, i.e., to be contented. | 55 |
| Si ce n’est toi, c’est ton frère—If you did not do it, it was your brother. | 56 |
| Still people are dangerous. | 57 |
| 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. | 58 |
| Tout faiseur de journaux doit tribut au malin—Every journalist owes tribute to the evil one. | 59 |
| Tout flatteur vît au dépens de celui qui l’écoute—Every flatterer lives at the expense of him who listens to him. | 60 |
| War has its sweets, Hymen its alarms. | 61 |
| We always take credit for the good, and attribute the bad to fortune. | 62 |
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