Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

Ils n'ont pu qu'en cessant de l'être se dérober à mon affection.

English translation:

It was only be ceasing to be human that they could forfeit my affection.

Added to glossary by jerrie
Dec 10, 2002 15:22
21 yrs ago
French term

Ils n'ont pu qu'en cessant de l'être se dérober à mon affection.

Non-PRO French to English Art/Literary
et ils ont brisé violemment tous les liens qui m'attachaient à eux. J'aurais aimé les hommes en dépit d'eux-mêmes. Ils n'ont pu qu'en cessant de l'être se dérober à mon affection. Les voilà donc étrangers

Proposed translations

+5
16 mins
Selected

It was only be ceasing to be human that they could forfeit my affection.

Reveries of the solitary walker - Rousseau

First Walk

... and have violently broken all the threads that bound me to them. I would have loved my fellow-men in spite of themselves. It was only by ceasing to be human that they could forfeit my affection. So now they are strangers and foreigners to me;.....


Translated by Peter France
Penguin Edition

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Note added at 2002-12-10 18:38:47 (GMT)
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Typo: \'be\' should be \'by\' ..it was only by ceasing to be...
Peer comment(s):

agree Julia Bogdan Rollo (X)
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agree JCEC
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agree Louise Dupont (X)
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agree Simo Blom
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agree Yolanda Broad
6 days
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ."
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