Les affaires sont les affaires = Business is business; One must be serious at work.
Ce scandale sera l’affaire de huit jours = That scandal will be a nine days’ wonder.
Dieu nous garde d’un homme qui n’a qu’une affaire = God save us from the man of one idea.
[Because he is always talking of it, and tires every one. Compare “Beware of the man of one book.”]
Chacun sait ses affaires = Every one knows his own business best.
*A demain les affaires sérieuses = I will not be bothered with business to-day; Time enough for business to-morrow.
[The saying of Archias, governor of Thebes, on receiving a letter from Athens warning him of the conspiracy of Pelopidas; he would not even open the letter. Soon after, the conspirators rushed in and murdered him and his friends as they were feasting.]
Il vaut mieux avoir affaire à Dieu qu’à ses saints = It is better to deal with superiors than subordinates.
[Two quotations from La Fontaine are proverbial:—“On ne s’attendait guère
A voir Ulysse en cette affaire.”
La Tortue et les deux Canards.
“Le moindre grain de mil
Serait bien mieux mon affaire.”
Le Coq et la Perle.]
Affamer
*Ventre affamé n’a point d’oreilles = A hungry man will not listen to reason.
[La Fontaine, Fables, ix. 18.]
Afficher
Défense d’afficher = Stick no bills.
C’est un homme qui s’affiche = He is a man who tries to get talked about (generally in a disparaging sense).
[Être affiché is also said of a man who has been “posted” at his club.]
Affront
Faire affront à quelqu’un = To shame some one in public.
Le fils fait affront à sa famille = The son is a disgrace to his family.
Boire (essuyer or avaler) un affront = To pocket an insult.
Affût
Être à l’affût = To be watching for a favourable opportunity; To be on the look-out. (See Aguets.)
Âge
Il est entre deux âges = He is middle-aged.
Il est président d’âge = He is chairman by seniority.
Le bas âge = Infancy.
Le bel âge = Childhood; youth.
[Some idea is generally understood after le bel âge. Thus “childhood” is not always the right translation. For an author le bel âge would be after thirty, for a politician later still, and so on. Chicaneau, in Racine’s Plaideurs, calls sixty le bel âge pour plaider (i. 7).]
La fleur de l’âge = The prime of life.
Le moyen âge = The Middle Ages.
Agir
Il s’agit de … = The question is … ; The point is …
Il s’agit de votre vie = Your life is at stake.
Il ne s’agit pas de cela = That is not the point.
Il s’agit bien de cela (ironic.) = That is quite a secondary consideration.
Agiter
Qui s’agite s’enrichit = If you wish to get rich, you must work (hustle); No pains, no gains.
Agonie
Même à travers l’agonie la passion dominante se fait voir = The ruling passion is strong in death.
[“Elle a porté ses sentiments jusqu’à l’agonie.”—Bossuet. “And you, brave Cobham! to the latest breath
Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death.”
Pope, Moral Essays, i. 262.]
Aguets
Il est aux aguets = He is on the watch; He is in ambush. (See Affût.)
Aide
*Un peu d’aide fait grand bien = Many hands make light work.
Aider
Bon droit a besoin d’aide = Even a good cause needs support.
*Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera = God helps those who help themselves.
[La Fontaine, Fables, vi. 18, Le Chartier embourbé, copying Régnier, Sat. xiii.:
“Aydez vous seulement et Dieu vous aydera.”
Lat.: Dii facientes adjuvant.
Æschylus, Persae, 742: Σπεύδοντι σαυτῷ χῶ θεὸς ξυνάψεται.
Sophocles, Camicii, frag. 633, in Dindorf’s edition: Οὐκ ἐστι τοῖς μή δρῶσι σύμμαχος Τύχη.
Another Greek saying was: Σύν, Αθηνᾷ καὶ χείρα κίνει = With Minerva on your side, yet use your own hand.
Cromwell is reported to have said at the battle of Dunbar: “Trust in God, but keep your powder dry.”
The Basques say: “Quoique Dieu soit bon ouvrier, il veut qu’on l’aide.”]
Aiguille
De fil en aiguille = Bit by bit; One thing leading to another.
[“De propos en propos et de fil en eguille.”—Régnier, Sat. xiii.]
Raconter de fil en aiguille = To tell the whole matter from the beginning.
Disputer sur la pointe d’une aiguille = To raise a discussion on a subject of no importance; To split hairs.
*Chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin = To look for a needle in a bundle (bottle) of hay.
Aiguillon
A dur âne dur aiguillon = In dealing with obstinate natures one must use severe measures.
Aile
Il en a dans l’aile = He is winged (hurt).
Le ministère a du plomb dans l’aile = The ministry is nearing its end, is winged.
Il ne bat plus que d’une aile = He is almost ruined; He is on his last legs.
Voler de ses propres ailes = To act (or, shift) for oneself.
J’en tirerai pied ou aile = I will get something out of it.
[Idiom derived from carving a bird—to get a leg or a wing off it.]
C’est la plus belle plume de son aile (or, le plus beau fleuron de sa couronne) = It is the finest gem of his crown.
Aimer
*Qui aime bien châtie bien = Spare the rod and spoil the child.
[Proverbs xiii. 24.]
Aimer