There are people who resemble popular songs: they are sung for a time and then forgotten.
[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, qu’on ne chante qu’un certain temps.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶211 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)
The manuscripts of some early editions included a clause about those popular songs being distasteful (as seen in some of the translations below), but the phrase was not in the final (1678) edition:[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, que tout le monde chante un certain temps, quelques fades et dégoûtants qu’ils soient.]
(Source (French)). Other translations:There are a sort of people may be compar'd to those trivial Songs, which all are in an humour to sing for a certain time, how flat and distasteful soever they may be.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶64]Some Men are like Ballads, that every body Sings at one time or other, though they be never so dull and insipid.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶212]There are people who, like new songs, are in vogue only for a time.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶454; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶202]There are those, who, like new songs, are favourites only for a time.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶491]Some people resemble ballads, which are only sung for a certain time.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶220]There are people who are like farces, which are praised but for a time (however foolish and distasteful they may be).
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶211]Some people are like rag-time -- their popularity is short-lived.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶216]Some people are like popular songs, which are sung only for a season.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶211]Some people are like a popular song, taken up only for a time.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶211]Some people are like popular songs that you only sing for a short time.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶211]There are people who resemble certain kinds of popular music, which are sung only for a certain time, however insipid and disgusting they may be, and then forgotten.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶211]
Quotations about:
fickleness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Lucky yet sad? My friend, should Fortune find
You lacking gratitude, she’ll change her mind.[Tristis es et felix. Sciat hoc Fortuna caveto:
Ingratum dicet te, Lupe, si scierit.]Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 6, epigram 79 (6.79) (AD 91) [tr. B. Hill (1972)]
(Source)
"To Lupus." (Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:Th' art rich & sad; take heed lest fortune know;
She 'll call th' unthankefull, Lupus, if she do.
[tr. May (1629)]How? sad and rich? Beware lest Fortune catch
Thee, Lupus, then she'll call thee thankless wretch.
[tr. Fletcher (1656)]Th'art rich and sad; take heed lest Fortune see,
And, as ungrateful, do proceed with thee.
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]What! sad and successfull! let Fortune not know.
Ingrate! would she brand thee, did she see thee so.
[tr. Elphinston (1782), Book 12, ep. 88]You are sad in the midst of every blessing. Take care that Fortune does not observe, or she will call you ungrateful.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]You are sad, although fortunate. Take care Fortune does not know this; "Ingrate" will be her name for you, Lupus, if she knows.
[tr. Ker (1919)]In spite of your luck you seem gloomy of late:
Take care, or Dame Fortune will dub you 'Ingrate.'
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]You are sad and lucky. Mind you don't let Fortune know. She will call you ungrateful, Lupus, if she gets to know.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]Lupus, you're sad, though lucky. Don't disclose it.
Fortune will call you thankless if she knows it.
[tr. McLean (2014)]You've got it all, Lupus, but you're glum, moping, dour.
Do you want Fortune to think you're ungrateful to her?
[tr. D. Hill (2023)]
The man who makes it his business to please the multitude is never done.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne, ch. 34 [ed. Marven Lowenthal (1935)]
(Source)
Lowenthal created an "autobiography" from the wide array of first-person statements, experiences, and observations made by Montaigne across his essays, letters, etc. I have been unable to find from where this particular statement is translated or interpolated.
A woman is a fickle, changeful thing!
[Varium et mutabile semper
femina.]Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]
(Source)
Warning Aeneas that Dido is likely to attack Aeneas' forces now that she knows he is deserting her.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:Still inconstant is a womans minde.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]Who knows what hazards thy delay may bring?
Woman's a various and a changeful thing.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]Woman is a fickle and ever changeable creature.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]Away to sea! a woman's will
Is changeful and uncertain still.
[tr. Conington (1866)]Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]For woman's heart is shifting evermore.
[tr. Morris (1900)]Away!
Changeful is woman's mood, and varying with the day.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 73]A mutable and shifting thing
is woman ever.
[tr. Williams (1910)]A fickle and changeful thing is woman ever.
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]A shifty, fickle object
Is woman, always.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]Woman was ever
A veering, weathercock creature.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]An ever
uncertain and inconsistent thing is woman.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), l. 786-87]Woman's a thing
Forever fitful and forever changing.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]Women are unstable creatures, always changing.
[tr. West (1990)]Woman is ever fickle and changeable.
[tr. Kline (2002)]A woman is a fickle and worrisome thing.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]Woman’s a thing
that’s always changing, shifting like the wind.
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 710-11]Females are a fickle thing, always prone to change.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]
See also:
