“Nous sommes nez a quester la verite : il appartient de la posseder a une plus grande puissance,”
“We are born to seek for truth : its possession is the attribute of a higher power.”
“Nous sommes simples gens, puisqu’il plaist a Dieu; et appelons les
figues, figues, les prunes, prunes, et les poires, poires.”
“We are simple people, since God so pleases, and call figs, figs, plums,
plums, and pears, pears.”
“Nous tromper dans nos entreprises,
Cast a quoi nous sommes sujets;
Le matin je fais des projets,
Et le long du jour des sottises.”
“When all our well-laid schemes go wrong,
’Tis but the common lot of man;
My day’s work every morn I plan ,
Then play the fool the whole day long.”
“Nous verrons. . . . Mot fatal! Pour les grands politiques, le verbe voir n’a pas de futur.”
“We shall see. . . . Fatal saying! For the political leader, the verb to see has no future tense.”
“(Car) nous voulons la Nuance encore.
Pas la Couleur, rien que la Nuance!”
Paul Verlaine. Jadis et Naguére. Jadis.—L’Art Poetique.
“’Tis the delicate shade that we seek,
Not the colour, but only the shade!”
“Nous voyons que d’un homme on se gausse,
Quand sa femme, chez lui, porte le haut-de-chausse.”
“We see that he’s the butt of many a jest,
Whose wife at home is in the breeches dressed.”
“Nul n’aura de l’esprit, hors nous et nos amis.”
“There’s none shall have wit, save ourselves and our friends.”
“Nul n’est content de sa fortune
Ni mecontent de son esprit.”
Mme. Deshoulières. Reflexions Diverses.
“None with his fortune is content
Nor discontented with his wit.”
“Nul n’est content de son chapeau;
Chacun voudrait une couronne.”
“None with his hat is satisfied;
Each man desires to wear a crown.”
