L'argent n'a pas d'odeur
Meaning: Money is money regardless of how disreputably it was earned.
Language: French
Literally: Money has no smell
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From the emperor Vespasian, who taxed the urine collected from Rome's public latrines for use in tanning. When his son objected to the source, he held a coin to the boy's nose and asked whether it smelled — pecunia non olet.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Une Arlésienne — A person or thing endlessly talked about but who never actually appears.
- Signer son arrêt de mort — To take an action that guarantees your own downfall.
- Un homme de l'art — A qualified professional, especially a physician.
- C'est du grand art — That is masterfully done.
- L'enfance de l'art — Utterly elementary; child's play.
- À l'article de la mort — At the very point of dying.
More French idioms
- De bon augure — A promising sign; its opposite, de mauvais augure, means ominous.
- Mesurer à l'aune de — To judge something by a particular standard.
- L'avocat du diable — Someone who argues a position they do not hold in order to test it.
- Dans tous les azimuts — In every direction at once; scattered and unfocused.
- Une tour de Babel — A place of hopeless confusion, especially one where nobody speaks the same language.
- Plier bagage — To pack up and clear off, usually in a hurry.
From our proverbs
- History is written by the victors — The defeated's perspective vanishes from records because power, not truth, determines whi…
- Horses, not zebras — When diagnosing problems, assume common causes before exotic ones; simplicity usually pre…
- Idle hands make work for the Devil — Unoccupied minds drift toward mischief; productive engagement prevents moral corruption.
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