Vendre son âme au diable
Meaning: To sacrifice one's principles for power, wealth or success.
Language: French
Literally: To sell one's soul to the devil
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From the medieval pact legend that reached its definitive form in the Faust story, printed in 1587 and later taken up by Marlowe and Goethe. The bargain always grants what was asked and always collects.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Faire amende honorable — To publicly admit you were wrong and apologize.
- Bon an, mal an — On average, taking the good years with the bad; year in, year out.
- Le libre arbitre — Free will — the capacity to choose independently of compulsion.
- L'argent n'a pas d'odeur — Money is money regardless of how disreputably it was earned.
- 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.
More French idioms
- 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.
- 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.
From our compliments & insults
- Quel râleur / quelle râleuse — You never stop moaning — everything is a complaint, nothing is ever good enough.
- Peau de vache — A mean, difficult, and unpleasant person — tough and unyielding like tanned hide.
- Tu as une cervelle de moineau — You're scatterbrained and forgetful.
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