91
Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.
Let them eat cake.
Van ???
This quote is often attributed to Marie-Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI. Where it really comes from is unknown. As early as in the 1760s, the sentence is found in the memoirs of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau - when Marie Antoinette still lived in Vienna and was only 10 years old. Some historians attribute it to Theresa of Spain (1638-1683), the first wife of Louis XIV.
59
Après moi, le déluge.
Ruin, if you like, when we are dead and gone.
Van King Louis XV of France
King Louis XV said to Madame de Pompadour. It is generally considered a nihilistic expression of indifference to whatever happens after one is gone though it may also express a more literal forecasting of ruination. The phrase refers to the biblical flood and is believed to date from after the 1757 Battle of Rossbach, which was disastrous for the French.
102
Créer, c’est vivre deux fois.
To create is to live twice.
Van Albert Camus, French author
84
Du sublime au ridicule il n’y a qu’un pas.
There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Van Napoleon Bonaparte
Said by Napoleon to De Pradt, the French ambassador to Warsaw, after the retreat from Moscow in 1812.
2
Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him
Van Voltaire
97
Il existe une beauté particulière qui naît dans le langage, du langage et pour le langage.
A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language.
Van Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher
57
Tous pour un, un pour tous.
All for one, and one for all.
Van Alexandre Dumas
It is associated with the characters of his novel The Three Musketeers (1844).
58
Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Evil to him who evil thinks.
Van Edward III of England, Monarch of England
It´s the motto of the British Order of the Garter originated by Edward 3rd (in 1348 or 1349).
56
Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.
I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short.
Van Blaise Pascal
In his Lettres Provinciales (1656-1657). What he was saying, of course, is that it's easy to ramble on, it takes effort to be succinct.
32
L'homme est né libre et partout il est dans les fers.
Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
Van Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Opening sentence of the first chapter of his book "The Social Contract".
83
C’est pire qu’un crime, c’est une faute.
It was worse than a crime, it was a blunder.
Van Antoine Jacques Claude Joseph, comte Boulay de la Meurthe, French Politician
Reaction to the 1804 drumhead trial and execution of Louis Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien, on orders of Napoleon.
34
Et qu'est-ce qu'il a voulu dire par ça?
And what did he mean by that?
Van Klemens von Metternich
19th century Austrian diplomat Metternich, who was used to interpreting the slightest signals as hints or possible indicatiions of new strategies, is said to have asked of Talleyrand when he heard that the French statesman had died.
35
Je déteste ce que vous écrivez, mais je donnerai ma vie pour que vous puissiez continuer à écrire.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Van Voltaire