“N’est si sage qui ne foloit,”
“None is so wise but hath done foolishly.”
“N’ont terre de Seingnor ki ne se pot aidier.”
Robert Wace. Le Roman de Ron, line 3329.
“None lord it o’er the land but they who help themselves.”
“Nature davantage nous instruict cueillir les fruictz quand ilz sont meurs.”
“Nature further teaches us to gather the fruits when they are ripe.”
“Nature n’a cree rhomine que pour prester et emprunter.”
“Nature has created men only to lend and to borrow,”
“(Mes) nature ne puet mentir.”
“But nature cannot lie.”
“Nature rien ne faict immortel : car elle met fin et periode a toutes
choses par elle produictes.”
“Nature maketh nothing immortal : for she assign eth a term and period
to all things by her produced.”
“Ne craignons rien du peuple, il semble encore douter;
Mais si Tidole tombe, il va la detester.”
“Fear not the mob, that still doth hesitate;
Let but the idol fall, and it will hate.”
“Ne croy pas en automne
Cueillir les fruits de ramour.”
“Think not when autumn comes
To pluck the fruits of love.”
“Ne dites à la posterite que ce qui est digne de la posterite.”
“Hand down nothing to posterity but what is worthy of posterity.”
“Ne faut-il que deliberer?
La cour en conseillers foisonne:
Est-il besoin d’executer?
L’on ne rencontre plus personne.”
“Is it a case of resolution?
You’ll have no lack of good advice:
But is it time for execution?
Advisers vanish in a trice.”