après moi le déluge
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French[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Literally, “after me, the deluge”. Attributed to French King Louis XV[1] or his mistress Madame de Pompadour.[2] Sometimes quoted as après nous le déluge (“after us, the deluge”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Phrase[edit]
- Used to indicate indifference to events that will happen after one’s death, or to indicate one’s own importance in maintaining order; after us the deluge
- 1908 [1895], Charles Wagner, La vie simple[1]; republished as Mary Louise Hendee, transl., The Simple Life, 1904:
- Les sociétés qui ont de trop grands besoins s’absorbent dans le présent, elles lui sacrifient les conquêtes du passé et lui immolent l’avenir. Après nous le déluge!
- When society has too great needs, it is absorbed with the present, sacrifices to it the conquests of the past, immolates to it the future. After us the deluge!
Descendants[edit]
- → Czech: po mně potopa (calque)
- → Dutch: na mij de zondvloed (calque)
- → English: after me the deluge, after us the deluge (calque)
- → Finnish: meidän jälkeemme vedenpaisumus (calque)
- → German: nach mir die Sintflut (calque)
- → Norwegian: etter oss syndfloden (calque)
- → Polish: po nas choćby potop, po nas choćby i potop (calque)
- → Russian: по́сле на́с хо́ть пото́п (pósle nás xótʹ potóp) (calque)
- → Lithuanian: po manęs nors ir tvanas (calque)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ “après moi le déluge”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- ^ The Expression “Après moi le déluge”, and Its Classical Antecedents
Further reading[edit]
après moi, le déluge on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 
Madame de Pompadour on Wikiquote.Wikiquote
