Plus la change -- and Dominique Strauss-Kahn

[Joel S. Berson]

In an article in today's New York Times, Elaine Sciolino writes:

That [France's historical royal history] makes
the French tolerant of other people’s private
behavior, especially sexual behavior. Private
lives must not be invaded by outsiders. “To live
happy, live hidden,” goes the saying by
Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, the 18th-century poet.

Maxim first seen in English by Google Books in
1917, "The Life of the Grasshopper," by
Jean-Henri Fabre, in a footnote translating from
the French: "Pour vivre heureux, vivons caché!"

(I do not have any quotation reference books to check.)

Joel

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