Tant va la cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse
Meaning: Repeated risk-taking eventually catches up with you.
Language: French
Literally: The pitcher goes to the water so often that it finally breaks
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A medieval proverb, attested in French from the 13th century. The force is in the arithmetic rather than the moral: no single trip is dangerous, and the outcome is certain anyway.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Porter la culotte — To be the one who makes the decisions in a household.
- N'en avoir cure — To be entirely indifferent to something.
- Virer sa cuti — To undergo a complete change of convictions.
- Au grand dam de quelqu'un — To someone's considerable detriment or annoyance.
- Trouver son chemin de Damas — To undergo a sudden and total conversion.
- Une épée de Damoclès — A disaster hanging over someone, liable to fall at any moment.
More French idioms
- 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.
- Après moi le déluge — What happens once I am gone is not my problem.
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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