Borysfen Intel

About bayonets

April 24, 2015

You can do anything with bayonets, except sit on them

From the French: On peut tout faire avec des mayonnaises, sauf s'asseoir dessus.

In the original: Bayonets are suitable for everything (you can do anything with bayonets), just sitting on them is impossible.

Since into our language the expression came from the French literature, it erroneously is attributed to famous historical figures of France - Talleyrand, Napoleon, and so on. As a matter of fact, it is a Spanish proverb.

The meaning of the expression: military power is good only for military purposes (to defeat an enemy, to make an armed revolution, and so on). But there is much more to governing the country than just power - one needs intelligence, ideas, uniting the society, social harmony, the common will and so on.

 

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