# What is your favourite non-English quotation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115 "2021-07-09T21:28:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/1 "2021-07-09T21:28:34Z")
I like me a good aphorism. What is your favourite quotation or saying, in any language other than English? What does it mean to you? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/2 "2021-07-09T21:54:29Z")
\*ll y a des fleurs partout pour qui veut bien les voir" Henri Matisse (There are flowers everywhere for those who truly wish to see them) “C’est pas que le puits est trop profond, cest que ta corde est trop corte” Proverb It’s not that the well is too deep, it’s that your rope is too short ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/3 "2021-07-09T22:13:35Z")
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. But, you know, _[bitterly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_et_Decorum_est)_. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/4 "2021-07-09T22:26:59Z")
Its ether Que Será, Será or C’est la vie. Depends on how I’m feeling that day, sometimes its Ménage à trois ala mode? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/5 "2021-07-09T22:54:06Z")
A friend used to cock one eyebrow and intone a French phrase as quickly as possible (with a thick accent), then wiggle said eyebrow to look witty. And leave the room before anyone could tell what he’d said. _“C’n’est pas la chaleur c’est l’humidité.”_ . (“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”) ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/6 "2021-07-09T23:08:25Z")
This one is by the Indian poet, Ghalib (Written maybe mid 1800s) _hamko ma’aloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat lekin,_\* \*_dil ke khush rakhne ko, ‘Ghalib’ yeh khayaal achcha hai_ I know the truth about Heaven; and Yet, to keep the heart amused; its a good idea to have. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/7 "2021-07-09T23:25:26Z")
I don’t know about favorite, but one that comes to mind is the Polish: _Nadzieja matką głupich_ Hope is the mother of fools/the stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/8 "2021-07-09T23:28:43Z")
_Carpe cerevisi_: Seize the beer. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/9 "2021-07-09T23:40:05Z")
German saying (not sure what the words actually are in German) : “A healthy person has a thousand wishes; a sick person has only one.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/10 "2021-07-09T23:51:36Z")
_Wo man singt, da lass dich ruhig nieder_ _Böse Menschen haben keine Lieder_ Where there’s singing, calmly settle down Evil people don’t have songs. I love that. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/11 "2021-07-10T00:01:35Z")
**El sueño de la razón produce monstruos** -Goya _The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters_ ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/12 "2021-07-10T00:25:23Z")
Revenons à nos moutons French. Loosely translates as “this thread has gone off topic” (… I should have waited a couple of days before posting that … ) ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/13 "2021-07-10T00:41:14Z")
Chacun à son goût To each his own(taste) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/14 "2021-07-10T00:48:34Z")
Supposedly a Cantonese expression (given here in English): _He has many knives but none of them is sharp._ Basically meaning “Jack of all trades, master of none”. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/15 "2021-07-10T02:10:41Z")
_La majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain._ - **In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.** Anatole France I once worked with a lawyer who told me he didn’t understand this quote. ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/16 "2021-07-10T02:30:58Z")
Japanese: 明日は明日の風が吹く Ashita wa ashita no kaze ga fuku (Literally, _tomorrow’s wind blows tomorrow_, though often translated into English as _tomorrow is another day_.) You may recognize the word _kaze_ (wind) if you know the literal meaning of the word _kamikaze_, divine wind. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/17 "2021-07-10T06:51:09Z")
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/18 "2021-07-10T06:58:47Z")
German: “Ein Mann ohne ein Armbanduhr ist ein gluecklicher Mann.” Translation: “A man without a wristwatch is a happy man.” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/19 "2021-07-10T13:52:08Z")
“Como frijoles?”, or “how have you bean?” More seriously, “honi soit qui mal y pense”, or “shame on him who thinks evil of it”. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115/20 "2021-07-10T14:49:32Z")
Vidi, vici, veni [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-non-english-quotation/946115.md?page=2)