IdiomDaily Life
French
FrenchLa critique est aisée, mais l'art est difficile
Meaning: Faulting a work costs nothing compared with making one.
Literally: Criticism is easy, but art is difficult
Example: “Tu trouves mon gâteau trop sec ? La critique est aisée, mais l'art est difficile.” — You think my cake is too dry? Everyone's a critic.
English equivalent: Everyone's a critic
Equivalents in other languages
English: everyone's a critic
Origin: From Philippe Néricault Destouches' 1732 comedy Le Glorieux (The Conceited Count). The line is quoted at critics so routinely that its theatrical origin is usually forgotten.
More French idioms
- Une épée de Damoclès A disaster hanging over someone, liable to fall at any moment.
- Entretenir une danseuse To maintain a costly indulgence that serves no purpose.
- À l'usage du Dauphin Expurgated; censored for delicate sensibilities.
- Les dés sont pipés The outcome is rigged in advance.
- Au débotté On the spot, with no time to prepare.
- Les délices de Capoue Comfort that saps the will to keep fighting.
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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