Je ne mâche pas mes mots = I don’t mince matters; I call a spade a spade.
Les grosses mouches passent à travers la toile de la justice, mais les petites y sont prises = One man may steal a horse, while another dare not look over the hedge; Justice will whip a beggar, but bow to a lord; One does the scath, another has the harm; The crow gets pardoned, and the dove has the blame.
[“Où la guêpe a passé, le moucheron demeure.”
La Fontaine, Fables, ii. 16.
“Quidquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.”
Hor., Ep., i. 2.
Italian: Un fa il peccato, l’altro la penitenza.]
*Vous faites d’une mouche un éléphant = You make a mountain out of a molehill.
[“Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.”
Horace, Ars Poetica.]
Quelle mouche vous pique? = What irritates you? What whim have you got into your head?
Il a pris la mouche = He is in a huff; He got offended.