Un jugement de Salomon
Meaning: A ruling of great wisdom that exposes the truth by testing it.
Language: French
Literally: A judgment of Solomon
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From 1 Kings, where Solomon proposes dividing a disputed infant in two and identifies the real mother by which woman gives it up. The point is that he never intended to do it.
More idioms — Daily Life
- C'est kif-kif — It makes no difference at all.
- Une fine lame — A highly skilled practitioner.
- Sur l'air des lampions — Chanted rhythmically on three insistent notes, as a crowd does.
- Perdre son latin — To be completely baffled by something.
- Se reposer sur ses lauriers — To coast on past achievements instead of continuing to work.
- Au pied de la lettre / À la lettre — Literally, in the strictest sense.
More French idioms
- Entrer en lice — To join a contest or dispute.
- Se faire limoger — To be relieved of a post; to be sacked.
- Laver son linge sale en famille — Keep internal disputes private.
- Par le petit bout de la lorgnette — From a needlessly narrow point of view.
- Être une lumière — To be highly intelligent — used almost exclusively in the negative.
- Une lune de miel — The first happy period of a marriage, or of any new arrangement.
From our proverbs
- Counsel is never out of date. — Wise advice remains relevant across times because human nature and its fundamental challe…
- In wiving and thriving men should take counsel of all the world. — Marriage and business success require diverse perspectives, not solitary decision-making.
- Three may keep counsel, if two be away. — Secrets survive only when fewer mouths know them; a third person inevitably spreads what…
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