Paris vaut bien une messe
Meaning: A principle is worth abandoning if the prize is large enough.
Language: French
Literally: Paris is well worth a mass
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Attributed to Henri IV, the Protestant heir who converted to Catholicism in 1593 to take a city that would not accept him otherwise. He probably never said it, and it describes what he did precisely.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Une messe basse — A whispered aside between two people in company.
- Je vous le donne en mille — You will never guess.
- Une cour des miracles — A squalid, lawless place.
- Affirmer mordicus — To insist on something absolutely and refuse to be moved.
- Être dans les bras de Morphée — To be fast asleep.
- Prendre au mot — To hold someone to exactly what they said.
More French idioms
- Un moulin à paroles — Someone who talks incessantly.
- Sainte Nitouche — A woman who feigns innocence she does not have.
- Le nerf de la guerre — Money, as the thing without which nothing can be done.
- Convoler en justes noces — To get married.
- Trancher le nœud gordien — To solve an intractable problem by refusing its terms.
- Chercher des noises — To pick a quarrel deliberately.
From our untranslatable words
- L'esprit de l'escalier — Thinking of the perfect comeback only after the moment has passed — on your way down the…
- Terroir — The unique character that a place — its soil, climate and tradition — gives to a wine or…
- Râler — To complain and grumble with a certain national flair — a beloved French pastime.
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