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  3. Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

C'est par le bien faire que se crée le bien être

English translation: Do good, feel good

10:40 Apr 27, 2010
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Proverb
French term or phrase: C'est par le bien faire que se crée le bien être
Hello all!
I'm looking for a translation for the French of this Chinese proverb "c'est par le bien faire que se crée le bien être."
I thought of "what goes around comes around", but I think the French seems more positive.
Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.
rideaux roses
English translation:Do good, feel good
Explanation:
Short and sweet!
Selected response from:

Emma Paulay
France
Local time: 14:24
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2Do good, feel good
Emma Paulay
4 +1Feeling good comes from doing good
Colin Morley (X)
3 +2well-doing leads to well-being
Rob Grayson
3 +1You reap what you sow
Pablo Strauss
3 +1one good deed leads to another
Caitriona82
4Doing well breeds well-being
Paul Muse
4Right doing leads to right being
MatthewLaSon
4Doing the right thing (or doing what's right) gives one a sense of well-being
Scott de Lesseps
3Doing Good, and Feeling Better
Nicole Büchel
3proper deeds, welfare indeed
Sébastien GUITTENY
3doing something well is the first step on the path to well-being
Andreas THEODOROU
3doing things well is what bears well-being.
Najib Aloui
2welfare comes from doing things well
Noni Gilbert Riley
Summary of reference entries provided
Doing a good job?
kashew

Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
welfare comes from doing things well


Explanation:
Something to start with... Needs tinkering with I would think!

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 14:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
You reap what you sow


Explanation:
This is like "what goes around...": there might be something closer out there.

Pablo Strauss
Canada
Local time: 08:24
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 3

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Rob Grayson: I don't think that's the meaning at all. You're interpreting it very loosely indeed.
2 mins
agree  Claire Cox: I think a lot depends on the asker's context, but this could certainly work in some situations.
2 mins
  -> Thanks Claire
agree  Carol Gullidge: agree with Claire, and I don't feel this necessarily calls for a literal translation. But whether this works deends on the context
9 hrs
  -> Thanks Carol
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6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Do good, feel good


Explanation:
Short and sweet!


    Reference: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/29585.html
Emma Paulay
France
Local time: 14:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 35
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Carol Gullidge: almost exactly what I would have posted: doing good makes you feel good/ Doing good for the feel-good factor... etc
16 mins
  -> Thanks, Carol.
agree  geetahu
1 day 2 hrs
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
one good deed leads to another


Explanation:
Not exactly the whole meaning of the proverb but a close enough approximation I think?

http://www.google.es/search?rlz=1C1SKPC_enES356ES365&sourcei...


Caitriona82
Spain
Local time: 14:24
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in IrishIrish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Evans (X): I think this is a good version, and a reasonably well-known phrase. There is also "Do as you would be done by" but I don't think that works as well here.
33 mins
  -> Thank you Gilla :-)
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Doing Good, and Feeling Better


Explanation:
;-)


    Reference: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2685717&page=1
Nicole Büchel
Germany
Local time: 14:24
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
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25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
proper deeds, welfare indeed


Explanation:
I tried to find a rhyme.

Sébastien GUITTENY
France
Local time: 14:24
Native speaker of: French
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44 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Doing well breeds well-being


Explanation:
Potentially snappier version of the suggestion posted by Rob Grayson. I don't think we need worry too much about whether well-being is "standard" English or not. I certainly prefer it to the currently trendy "wellness". For further explanation, see my comment on Rob's answer.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 48 mins (2010-04-27 11:29:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

By the way, I love this kind of proverb, and variations thereon, and have a lot of fun inventing them and playing around on possible translations. If interested, check out my daily photo journal with captions in English and (sometimes deliberately inaccurate) French:
http://paul.muse.free.fr

Paul Muse
France
Local time: 14:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Feeling good comes from doing good


Explanation:
I was going to go with "what goes around comes around" until I read your full submission! On reflection though, I think you're right. The French is deeper and the former a little too lightweight.

Colin Morley (X)
France
Local time: 14:24
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Andreas THEODOROU
1 min
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
doing something well is the first step on the path to well-being


Explanation:
I'm venturing a more literary variant

Andreas THEODOROU
Spain
Local time: 14:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Right doing leads to right being


Explanation:
Hello,

Imho, I think this is the best way to put it.

Taoism asserts that right being leads to right doing and Confucianism says that right doing leads to right being. What does that mean? ...
en.allexperts.com › Buddhists -

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 08:24
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 30
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Doing the right thing (or doing what's right) gives one a sense of well-being


Explanation:
Another suggestion .... :)

Scott de Lesseps
United States
Local time: 08:24
Native speaker of: English
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
C\'est par le bien faire que se crée le bien être
doing things well is what bears well-being.


Explanation:
"doing things well" rather than "well-doing" because "bien faire" is not meant here in a moral but in a pragmatic sense.

Najib Aloui
Local time: 13:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
well-doing leads to well-being


Explanation:
Of course, "well-being" isn't a standard English word, but then again, I don't think "le bien faire" is a standard French concept either. The meaning is as clear in EN as it is in FR.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 43 mins (2010-04-27 11:24:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note that well-being does not equate to simply "feeling good". One can, at least in theory, "feel good" in spite of poverty, ill health or other assorted misfortune; well-being, on the other hand, usually implies a measure of health and prosperity as well as happiness.

For a selection of definitions: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=define: wel...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 hrs (2010-04-28 08:28:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Correcting my mistake: I meant to say, of course, that "well-doing" is not a standard English word. ("Well-being" is perfectly standard.)

Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:24
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Paul Muse: For me, this one seems to be about the closest to the original, bearing in mind that the "bien être" alluded to is not necessarilly only that of the person who does the "doing", but could surely also include the other(s) to whom the "well" is "done", no?
34 mins
  -> Thanks, Paul
agree  Verginia Ophof
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, Verginia
neutral  Najib Aloui: "well-being, I think , is a "standard" English word. See for example W.H.O's definition of health.
7 hrs
  -> See my note added above
neutral  Carol Gullidge: I'm more worried about "well-doing", which sounds quite odd to my UK ears, whereas "well-being" is now in very common use
9 hrs
  -> See my note added above
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Reference comments


27 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: Doing a good job?

Reference information:
I found a French proverb which I don't think refers to do-gooders: "Bien dire fait rire, bien faire fait taire."

kashew
France
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 40

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Andreas THEODOROU: hehe- Just an agree to say thanks for sharing that proverb :-)
2 hrs
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