Les chiens aboient et la caravane passe
Meaning: Criticism from bystanders does not stop those who are getting on with it.
Language: French
Literally: The dogs bark and the caravan passes
Category: Animals
Origin: An image of desert travel, generally traced to an Arabic or Turkish proverb: the camel train keeps its pace while village dogs make noise at its edges. It carries a distinct note of disdain for the barking.
More idioms — Animals
- Ne pas attacher son chien avec des saucisses — To be extremely tight-fisted.
- Un temps de chien — Filthy, miserable weather.
- Donner de la confiture à un cochon — To waste something fine on someone incapable of appreciating it.
- Un corbeau — The anonymous author of poison-pen letters.
- Bayer aux corneilles — To stand around idly, staring into space.
- Un panier de crabes — A group whose members constantly undermine one another.
More French idioms
- Mettre les bouchées doubles — To work twice as hard in order to catch up.
- La dive bouteille — Wine, treated with mock reverence.
- Boire le calice jusqu'à la lie — To endure an ordeal all the way to its most humiliating end.
- La cerise sur le gâteau — A final touch that completes something already good — often said sarcastically of a last…
- Ni chair ni poisson — Neither one thing nor the other; impossible to classify.
- Clouer le bec à quelqu'un — To silence someone completely, usually with an unanswerable reply.
From our proverbs
- The bad penny always turns up — Undesirable people or problems inevitably reappear despite your efforts to be rid of them.
- The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on — Indifferent to critics' noise, those with purpose continue their journey undeterred.
- The fewer the better fare — More food and drink are available per person if fewer people are there to consume it.
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