What would the French version of "Keep Calm and Carry On" be? Not so much a direct translation, but which French saying has a similar meaning?

Pas de panique – it should be printed on the front cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in the French translation.

Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. It was little known and never used.

It’s not easy to translate with the robots because of “carry on”, however, here are some ideas:

Garde ton calme et persévère.

Gardez votre calme et persévérez.

Garde ton calme et continue de l’avant.

Garde ton calme et continue.

The main difference between them, as you can see, is the choice between you and “vous” – use whichever is appropriate.

Also, the verbs perseverez or continue are used. Again, you decide whether to use “continue” or “persevere”.

:-)

Soyez tranquile

An expression that has a similar flavor is “Circulez, y a rien à voir!” (“Keep moving, nothing to see here”). It’s what police would say to keep an agitated crowd from forming around an incident. The phrase as entered into the vernacular as a way of saying “Nevermind, go about your business!”

@thorninmud Close, but I’m looking more for something like “Don’t worry and persevere.” Do the French have a commonly-used saying such as this? Or something they use commonly to get this point across?

I don’t know any expressions that neatly combine the two concepts (it’s not a very French sentiment, after all). Other ways of expressing the “keep calm” part in an idiomatic way are: “On ne s’affole pas” or the trendier “restez zen” or the franglais “restez cool”.

An expression with similar sentiments is “C’est la vie.” Basically, that’s the way life is, so just go on about your business.