French proverbs

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Moisson d'autrui plus belle que la sienne. Show translation Someone else's harvest more beautiful than your own. The grass is always greener over the hill.
Le chat qui a été mordu par un serpent appréhende jusqu'à la corde. Show translation A cat bitten by a snake is apprehensive. Whom a serpent has bitten, a lizard alarms.
Qui veut du feu, doit souffrir la fumée. Show translation Who wants fire, must suffer smoke.
Marchandise qui plaît est à demi vendue. Show translation Merchandise that pleases is half sold. Pleasing ware is half sold.
Donner la bourse à garder au larron. Show translation Give the purse to the thief to keep. Send not a cat for lard.
Quand on n'a pas bonne tête, il faut avoir bonnes jambes. Show translation When you don't have a good head, you need good legs.
Il veut apprendre à sa mère à faire des enfants. Show translation He wants to teach his mother how to make children. Teach your grandmother to suck eggs.
La lame use le fourreau. Show translation The blade wears down the scabbard. Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
Quand il neige sur les montagnes, il fait froid dans les vallées. Show translation When it snows on the mountains, it's cold in the valleys.
Le chien du jardinier ne mange pas de chou et n'en veut pas laisser manger aux autres. Show translation The gardener's dog won't eat cabbage and won't let others eat it. Like the gardener's dog, that neither eats cabbages himself, nor lets anybody else.
On ne peut peigner un diable qui n'a pas de cheveux. Show translation You can't comb a devil who has no hair. The beggar may sing before the thief.
Belle tête, mais de cervelle point. Show translation Nice head, but no brains. Fair and foolish, black and proud, long and lazy, little and loud.
Chacun prêche pour son saint. Show translation Everyone preaches to his own saint. See which way the wind is blowing.
Le pain d'autrui est amer. Show translation Other people's bread is bitter. Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad.
D'un sac à charbon il ne saurait sortir blanche farine. Show translation You can't get white flour out of a coal sack. To ask pears of an elm tree.
L'amour sied bien aux jeunes gens et déshonore les vieillards. Show translation Love suits the young and disgraces the old. There is no fool like an old fool.
Deux moineaux sur un épi ne sont pas longtemps amis. Show translation Two sparrows on a cob won't be friends for long. Two of a trade never agree.
Quand on ne peut mordre il ne faut pas aboyer. Show translation When you can't bite, don't bark. If you cannot bite never show your teeth.
Mieux vaut ta propre morue que le dindon des autres. Show translation Better your own cod than someone else's turkey.
Chien échaudé ne revient pas en cuisine. Show translation Scalded dogs don't come back to the kitchen. The burnt child dreads the fire.

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French proverbs