Looking for a French saying?
Asked by
pinky134 (
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September 7th, 2008
I need a saying which means something like “There but for the grace of God go I.” Sort of “I just got lucky.”
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5 Answers
Nah, it was a proverb long before it was a lyric.
I don’t know of an actual french expression that is the equivalent of that one, but literally, it would be something like “La, mais par la grace de Dieu, je vais.” Although I doubt people would reall use that in french. What do you need the saying for, may I ask? Knowing the context might help us help you.
I’m just looking for a literary way of saying “It could’ve been me” something to express that chance has a lot to do with where you end up in life. I speak French but I’m looking for a saying or proverb that’s actually used by native speakers. I was just hoping that French had a saying that was the sort of equivalent of that…
I can’t find a saying meaning exactly what you’re looking for. The best match is probably “Je l’ai échappée belle”. But this sentence is used when a danger is menacing you and finally chooses another target or simply misses. For instance, if someone shoots at you and you duck and avoid the bullet, you could say “je l’ai échapée belle”. It has the same meaning as “j’ai eu chaud” which is more familiar.
Another saying could be “Le malheur des uns fait le bonheur des autres”. In this case, it means that one person benefits from the misfortune of another.
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