French Idioms and Proverbs / A Companion to Deshumbert's "Dictionary of Difficulties"

by de V. Payen-Payne

*Le chat parti les souris dansent = When the cat’s away the mice will play.

*La nuit tous les chats sont gris = At night one may easily be mistaken; At night beauty is of no account; When candles are away, all cats are grey.

*Chat botté n’attrape pas de souris = A muffled cat catches no mice.

Comme chat sur braise = Like a cat on hot bricks.

Il n’y a pas un chat = There is not a soul.

Aller comme un chat maigre = To run like a lamplighter. (See [Verrier].)

Château

Faire des châteaux en Espagne = To build castles in the air.

[This expression is found from the thirteenth century. The explanation that would ascribe it to the followers of the Duc d’Anjou when he became Philippe V. of Spain must therefore be incorrect. The phrases “Châteaux en Asie, en Albanie” were also used, so that it comes to mean “to build castles in foreign countries, where one is not,” and hence “to indulge in illusions.”—Littré, s.v.

“Chatiaus en Espagne.”—Guillaume de Lorris, Roman de la Rose, l. 2530.