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

by de V. Payen-Payne

Faire venir l’eau au moulin = To bring grist to the mill.

Faire venir l’eau à la bouche = To make one’s mouth water.

*L’eau va toujours au moulin = Property always goes to those who have some already; Money makes money; Nothing succeeds like success.

D’ici là il passera bien de l’eau sous le pont = It will be a long time before that happens.

Mettre de l’eau dans son vin = (fig.) To come down a peg.

*L’eau qui tombe goutte à goutte cave la pierre = Dropping water will wear away a stone.

[Ovid begins a line with “Gutta cavat lapidem” an abbreviation of the proverb “Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo.”

“Stillicidi casus lapidem cavat.”—Lucretius, i. 313.]

*Une goutte d’eau suffit pour faire déborder un vase plein = The last straw breaks the camel’s back.