"avoir eu des compagnons de malheur est une consolation pour les misérables."

J'ai trouvé ça sur le ouèbe ; je ne sais pas si l'usage en est très répandu

Je propose : un malheur ne vient jamais seul.

I can think of the following one in Spanish: «Mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos». I hope it will jolt your memory!

P.

Désolée, Céline, j'ai dégainé trop vite. J'ai répondu avant de vérifier. Après vérif et recherches complémentaires je propose la citation de Montherlant :

«Le malheur ne peut se consoler qu’avec le malheur des autres.» [ Henry de Montherlant ]

J'apprécie énormément ton site que dont je récupère toutes les nouveautés grâce aux fils RSS.

Encore merci. Thank you so much !

Maria

Hi Céline, and happy New Year. I don't know enough French to tell, but in Spanish we say "Mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos". I hope this might help somehow.

I can't think of a suitable translation, but then I'm currently struggling with 96,000 words so my brain is rather tired.

Anyway, could it be the case that a phrase, proverb, etc. in one language only has an equivalent in another *if* it relates to an experience the speakers of the latter language have had at some point in their history? Therefore, if there is indeed no French equivalent for 'misery loves company', it might mean that, when they're unhappy, the French think no one else's unhappiness could possibly be as painful as theirs and they couldn't get any comfort from knowing they're not alone. We're supposed to be arrogant, aren't we? LOL!

Thanks a lot everyone for your input, very interesting. Doesn't "tonto" mean "idiot" in Spanish? In which case I don't quite get it. This reminds me I am absolutely determined to revive my moribund Spanish in 2008.

The Montherlant quote is absolutely spot on and shows that even if a common proverb doesn't exist in French, the concept is still there, almost I was almost convinced by your explanation Bela.

Oh and happy 2008 everyone!

Yes, Céline, "tonto" means "fool" or "idiot" in Spanish. This "Mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos" expression means that if you feel better because other people are suffering the same misery as you, then you are an idiot.

So we're not so arrogant after all. I am very pleased to be proved wrong in this instance.

And then, of course, there's the German Schadenfreude, which is really nasty. :-(

May I suggest, 'Les malheureux se consolent entre eux.' Or, 'Le malheur d'autrui réconforte les infortunés.' Not as short and punchy as the English (twice as many words), but not too long-winded for a French sentence, I don't think. (It's only taken me three days to come up with the above. I'm blaming my advancing years. :-)

Very good Bela. If I may take a leaf from you, may I suggest: "L'infortune d'autrui soulage le malheureux."

I found a Dictionary of European Proverbs by Emanuel Strauss that has (on page 351):

French:
a) à raconter ses maux, souvent on les soulage
b) la consolation des malheureux, c'est d'avoir des compagnons de leur misère
c) nous souffrons tous, mais parler nous soulage
d) parler de ses peines, c'est déjà se consoler

http://books.google.com/books?id=jAj9B3309gAC

Thanks a lot! The best option here seems to be b).

I like your suggestion very much, J-P: much more elegant than mine. :-)

Not more elegant , Bela, just different. I was thinking of La Fontaine and thought that I should come up with an alexandrine.It seems to work if read as such, that is 6+6 with the caesura occurring after autrui.