“Dans le royaume des aveugles les borgnes sont rois.”
“In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed are kings.”
“Dans le siecle ou nous sommes,
Est-ce au pied du savoir qu’on mesure les hommes? ”
“In this benighted age
Who is there measures men by wisdom’s gauge?”
“Dans le siecle ou nous sommes,
L’art de reussir est de flatter les hommes.”
“In the age in which we live
’Tis flattery only that success can give.”
“Dans le siecle ou nous sommes
On ne donne rien pour rien.”
“In these times of ours
Nothing for nothing is the rule.”
“Dans le vieux temps
Les Princesses etaient fiddles,
Et les sieges duraient dix aus.”
De Bonnard. Epître à ZSphyrhie. (Ed. 1791, p. 75.)
“In the distant past
Princesses aye were faithful found,
And every siege ten years did last.”
“Dans les chemins connus on marche à petits pas,
Et quand on salt le terme, ou est moins vito las.”
“Along a beaten track we move with footsteps slow,
And weary not so quickly when our goal we know.”
“Dans les cœurs vertueux l’amour nait du devoir.”
“In virtuous hearts love is of duty born.”
“Dans les espaces immenses de l’erreur, la verite n’est qu’un point.
Qui l’a saisi, ce point unique?”
“In the immeasurable realms of error truth is but a point. Who has seized this single point?”
“Dans les grandes actions il faut uniquement songer a bien faire, et laisser venir la gloire apres la vertu.”
“In all great actions we should think solely of doing right, and let glory
follow after virtue.”
