# c'est en faisant n'importe quoi qu'on devient n'importe qui



## sandrine26

Please could you help me to translate this french expression in English

"c'est en faisant n'importe quoi qu'on devient n'importe qui"

The problem is to keep the sens of this sentence and don't translate word by word but translating the sens.

Do you have a proposition ?

Thanks for your help. Sandrine


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## polaire

Hint:  Consider using two English words that begin with "any-"


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## sandrine26

So could it be :
It's making anything (sense garbage) one becomes no matter who.

But there is a wordplay between "n'importe quoi" and "n'importe qui" and this expression makes no sense in French that's why it's very difficult to translate. Is it possible to say : 
It's making no matter what, one becomes no matter who ??

It's the catch phrase to remi gaillard and if you would like understand the good sense I mean, you can see one of his videos on  nimportequi . com


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## Suehil

'It's by doing nothing in particular that you become nobody in particular.'


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## renardor

This is how I understand the sentence:
It's by doing stupid things that one becomes a depraved person.


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## johndot

Exactly, Suehil !


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## Suehil

I think it is less extreme than 'stupid' and 'depraved' - more like 'by doing nothing you become nobody'


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## Argyll

I think your "nothing in particular" in #6 was closer to the truth than plain "nothing", Suehil.


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## renardor

With "nothing in particular/nobody in particular", you keep the same similarity as with "n'impote quoi/n'importe qui".
But "faire n'importe quoi" doesn't mean "to do nothing in particular", but instead to do illogical thing, or to do thing in the wrong way, etc...

and yes, stupid and depraved are extreme ^^


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## johndot

Or ‘by doing nothing, you are a nothing’ ?


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## renardor

maybe maybe
By doing nonsensical things, one becomes a wierdo.
?


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## polaire

renardor said:


> With "nothing in particular/nobody in particular", you keep the same similarity as with "n'impote quoi/n'importe qui".
> But *"faire n'importe quoi"* doesn't mean "to do nothing in particular", but instead to do illogical thing, or to do thing in the wrong way, etc...
> 
> and yes, stupid and depraved are extreme ^^



Could be translated as "to do any old thing."


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## Suehil

The 'nothing' and 'nobody' was only to illustrate the point.  How about 'it's by doing just anything that you become just anybody.'


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## sandrine26

Thank you everybody for your answers. I'm very surprised you answer with such speed !!!!!
Suehil your last answer is very well and I think it's at the moment the most appropriate translation in relation to the initial sense.


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## Nicomon

Suehil said:


> The 'nothing' and 'nobody' was only to illustrate the point. How about 'it's by doing just anything that you become just anybody.'


 This one gets my vote.    I agree with Sandrine.


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## polaire

I just read that "n'importe quoi" has the additional meaning of "nonsense" or "rubbish" or 'whatever" (sarcastically) and that this expression has been used by a French video maker.  

The expression inquired about means "It's by doing nonsensical things that you become nonsensical," and is a play of words on the proverb, "C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron." (Literally, "It's by forging that one becomes a blacksmith," figuratively, "Practice makes perfect.")

If I had to translate this into English, I might use a play on an English expression, "Pretty is as pretty does," and use:

"Stupid is as stupid does."


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## gV Rubino

By doing something you become someone.


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## cyberpedant

How about: "Doing silly things makes you a silly person"?


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## sankara

seems you didn't get it at all. 

it simply means: "It's by doing anything one becomes anyone."

that's just a wordplay (n'importe qui / n'importe quoi).


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## Ericklecoz

It's by doing just anything that you become just anyone!

I think that this is the best way for saying this^^
cyou guys


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## Diablo919

it officially means

"It's by doing whatever that ones becomes whoever..."
according to the site.


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## Hahutzy

As far as I know, this expression is a parody of the saying:
_C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron_
Which is equivalent to "practice makes perfect".

This illustrates that the expression is meant to be an encouragement of sorts.

Hence, I agree with some of the above posters,
_C'est en faisant n'importe quoi qu'on devient n'importe qui_
"*It's by doing anything one wants to do that one becomes anyone one wants to become.*"

or in a simpler fashion

"*It's by doing anything that one becomes anyone.*"

In the end, the meaning boils down to:
"don't give up before you try your best"

But of course, since it's a parody, the creator might have meant it the other way, which in turn means it's a pun.


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## Kat LaQ

Lots of good ideas so far!

Another try, going for something with a bit of the wordplay feel to it in EN:  
"Do nothing and you'll end up a nobody."


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## stephou

I know the website where you found that sentence !
It's someone making stupid videos doing stuffs you wouldt dare to do, such as interrupting a TV show and run among the candidates, go naked to a football match,...

Given the context, i think that "doing silly makes us like everyone" is what's meant.

but of course this translation is really bad.
maybe polaire's translation's correct but my favorite is suehil's 'it's by doing just anything that you become just anybody.'


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## bonzouk

Hahutzy said:


> As far as I know, this expression is a parody of the saying:
> _C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron_
> Which is equivalent to "practice makes perfect".
> 
> This illustrates that the expression is meant to be an encouragement of sorts.
> 
> "*It's by doing anything one wants to do that one becomes anyone one wants to become.*"
> 
> _i agree with this translation the most but would shorten it to:
> 
> *"it's by doing what we want to do that we become who we want to be"*_


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## bobepine

For those who are interested, it is the tagline of one Rémi Gaillard, a one-man French Jackass lite, if you will. 

I'm definitely of the opinion that he means that by doing any silly thing, you get to be another silly someone (underlying notion of celebrity), but look for him on youtube and judge for yourself.


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## 1guru

check out the translation i found on wikipedia: "It's by doing whatever that one becomes whoever". sorry if there was anybody else who proposed this translation but i read so many that i can't remember if i already read this one


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## bh7

_Keep doing stupid things and you'll soon be very good at it!_  (pretty sarcastic)

However, I think that polaire has already suggested the best concise formulation ("Stupid is as stupid does.").

(I've just noticed that several posters, like myself, got confused by the length of this thread and duplicated earlier suggestions.  Sorry.)


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## sankara

bobepine said:


> I'm definitely of the opinion that he means that by doing any silly thing, you get to be another silly someone (underlying notion of celebrity), but look for him on youtube and judge for yourself.


absolutely not.
I'd like to explain you why you're wrong but i'm not fluent enough... i'd even tend to think that you have to be french to understand the nuances of this type of sentence (i can be wrong though).


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## Migueldeabreu

Could it be...?


It's by doing anything that we become anyone, or, 
By doing anything we become anyone.


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## Fsd0106

Hi my native language is french. 

c'est en faisant n'importe quoi qu'on devient n'importe qui

even though n'importe qui and n'importe quoi are not directly translatable
this means:

*it is by doing anything, that one becomes anybody.*

_the n'importe quoi can also be taken as everything._

this is Remi Gaillard's "slogan"(?) his catchphrase i dont know how to say. he is a french "daredevil" that goes out and does funny stunts in public and posts them on the internet.

and that phrase basically means go for it and do anything and u will become anything u wish to be! 
like nike's slogan:


"just do it!"

hope this helps


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## Aoyama

In fact Renardor is right, together with a few others, basically :


> By doing nonsensical things, one becomes a wierdo.


rendering it by 





> "It's by doing anything one becomes anyone."


 (or the like), would be a misinterpretation (and a wrong translation).
Faire n'importe quoi = to fool around, to make a fool of oneself, to do stupid things
(_not _faire quelque chose)
Etre n'importe qui = to be someone of no importance, a nobody
My try : It's by fooling around that you become a jerk // fooling aroung will have you become a jerk.

This being said , 





> this expression is a parody of the saying:
> _C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron_
> Which is equivalent to "practice makes perfect".


true.
Something like 





> It's by doing just anything that you become just anyone!


 may also work ...


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## Fsd0106

yes faire n'importe quoi means to fool around but in Remi gaillard's view, he meant it is by doing anything. i live in france and this rings in my head as that not the one u mentioned. it is more of a optimistic point of view  . a motivational sentence. i hope u understand what i mean.

and n'importe qui is not a nobody or of no importance.
example
-choisis quelq'un. 
-mais qui?
-n'importe qui!

pick someone 
but who?
anyone!

believe me this is definately it


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## bobepine

@ sankara

Ma langue maternelle est le français. J'aimerais bien lire ton explication en quoi mon interprétation est "absolument" erronée.


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## Aoyama

> it is more of an optimistic point of view .


J'admets volontiers que la phrase *c'est en faisant n'importe quoi qu'on devient n'importe qui* peut être interprétée de plusieurs manières et sur deux registres, le registre "positif" (*c'est en faisant quelque chose que l'on devient quelqu'un*) et le registre ironique (*c'est en déconnant qu'on devient un con*, pour simplifier).

Je me targue d'avoir plusieurs langues maternelles (ça arrive), le français étant sans conteste l'une d'elles, mais j'ose penser que l'interprétation ironique (ou sarcastique) est ici la plus plausible, surtout quand on pense au "calque" _c'est en forgeant ..._

En ce qui concerne 





> I'm definitely of the opinion that he means that by doing any silly thing, you get to be another silly someone


 *bobepine *a évidemment parfaitement raison, qui peut aller là contre ...


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## bloomiegirl

Emboldened by Bobepine and Aoyama, I'll repost:  By doing just anything, one becomes just nobody.


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## Aoyama

> By doing just anything, one becomes just nobody


not bad, not bad at all. It pays to be bold.
A coeur vaillant, rien d'impossible.


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## gquixote

Could it be that the statement is highly ambiguous and is deliberately intended by Remi gaillard to be ambiguous? It sounds as though the guy is some sort of public performance artist, in which case his behaviour and his slogan could be designed *both:*

to make an encouraging motivational statement *and:*

to make a critical, maybe even cynical comment about celebrity and public life.

BY leaving the whole thing open to intterpretation he succeeds in functioning as a genuine mirror to all of us: We interpret his slogan (and by implication his actions) as a reflection on our own attitudes to self-determination and contemporary life. This, in my view is precisely the job of an artist in society.

This ambiguity is possibly what makes his work so popular and perhaps so compelling to many people.


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## Arrius

*Jack of all trades and master of none*.


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## Aoyama

> *Jack of all trades and master of none*.


a bit different. French call that *fumiste* or "bon à tout, bon à rien".
Now, it may be worth noting that this Rémi Gaillard probably gets his inspiration from Pierre Dac ...


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## piloulac

_"Celui qui, dans la vie, est parti de zéro pour n'arriver à rien, n'a de merci à dire à personne."
Pierre Dac
Effectivement, il y a du Pierre DAC (ou du Groucho Marx) dans le slogan et dans l'art de Rémi Gaillard.
L'idée est de fustiger toute l'idéologie post moderne sur les gagneurs, le mérite etc....
_


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## Aoyama

> _"Celui qui, dans la vie, est parti de zéro pour n'arriver à rien, n'a de merci à dire à personne."
> Pierre Dac_


C'est à peu près ça, et on sait qu'il y en a d'autres de la même eau .


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## gwenboulet

My native language being French I would say the closest to the original meaning would be:
*It's by doing absurd things that you become no-one in particular*
or
*By doing absurd things, you become no-one in particular*


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## Arrius

The set phrase *little things please little minds* has just occurred to me, which one says dispprovingly to someone wasting his time on some trivial pursuit.


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## Aoyama

Now, one has also to take into account that this Rémi Gaillard has a site called :
www.nimportequi.com (multilingual, you'll see).
Together with P.Dac, Piloulac mentioned Groucho Marx. I agree, Groucho, or for that matter the Marx Brothers as a whole, would fit here, in the nonsensical aspect of the caracter.
Looking at the site (and what this guy does) will help you, no doubt, understand what this phrase means.


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## franc 91

Here's my attempt at it -
If you are continually acting stupidly, you end up by becoming stupid.
Not doing anything right makes you a nobody.
By not doing anything the way it should be done, doesn't get you anywhere.


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## SteveRusso

Le débat tourne autour du message: positif ou sarcastique. 
Je penche très volontiers pour le sarcastique. 

My try: "shameless will bring you to fameless"


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## yaow

*Doing nonsense brings you nowhere!*
*Doing nonsense makes you a nobody!*


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## Scrivener

just to keep the ball rolling:

_Any fool can be a zero._


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## SteveRusso

Scrivener said:


> just to keep the ball rolling:
> 
> _Any fool can be a zero._



 I like this one!


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## wuhdee

I thought of "n'import quoi" as more of a placeholder or an excuse for what was done in the past - sort of the equivalent of the teenager's 'final' argument of "Whatever..."
So, in that context, I would have thought of the following:
"It's by doing random actions that one belittles himself."
Otherwise, the translation of "It's by doing frivolous things that one becomes insignificant" would apply.


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## minneshelly

Fsd0106 said:


> *it is by doing anything, that one becomes anybody.*


I like this but I would shorten it to "In doing anything, you can become anyone"

Remy Gaillard is pretty funny though. I loved his Mario Kart video. I would call him a "prankster" as opposed to daredevil.


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## Aoyama

> "In doing anything, you can become anyone"


 not really, you would be missing the pun here.
Faire n'importe quoi = to fool around, être n'importe qui = to be a "nobody" (a loser, someone of no importance). Both "n'importe quoi" and "n'importe qui" underline the "vacuum" of the person ...


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## gquixote

SO... The gist of the saying would seem to be an attack on the French tradition of Dada and Surrealism (Breton, Duchamp et. al.) who advocated silliness and random action as deeply meaningful and significant action. The wordplay of *c'est en faisant n'importe quoi qu'on devient n'importe qui* seems to me to be a reactionary and conservative statement attempting to dissuade, through language, those who might be inclined to explore artistic traditions via Dada and Surrealism that encourage the irrational and silly in the name of freedom and authenticity.


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## LivingTree

If I can be more mundane ... 

'it's by doing just anything that you become just anybody.'

-- I certainly go along with the "just anything/just anybody" -- but this "it's by ..." is not something an English speaker would ever say; it is extremely Gallic. It also reverses the meaning of the sentence, I think; it is saying "the way to become just anybody is to do just anything", when that isn't really what is being said.

*If you do just anything, you will become just anybody*

-- is how I would say it.

.


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## Aoyama

First of all, to gquixote : you are probably giving too much credit to this Rémi Gaillard, citing Dada, Breton etc. True though that this phrase could apply to the Surrealist Movement. But this being said (and conceded), I don't thing that RG had that in mind.
To LivingTree : yes, not bad. You could also have :'it's by doing just nothing that you become just nobody.'


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## makushiimu

No, because that's not the right sense. LivingTree's is better, because yours mean "C'est en ne faisant rien, qu'on devient personne"


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## guillaumedemanzac

Difficult to translate un jeu de mots. I think you have to keep the opening *By doing anything you want,* or *It's by doing just anything you* *want*, or *by acting out meaningless scenarios*   but the second half is difficult to balance effectively :: maybe *you become nothing*, or *that you become nothing anybody wants*, or *that you become meaningless.*
I prefer ; *it's by doing just anything that you become just anybody* - suggested by suehil - above
or maybe  *In doing meaningless things, you only/just become meaningless.*

guillaume


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## guillaumedemanzac

i prefer Suehil's *It's by doing just anything that you become just anybody*

or possibly *In doing meaningless things, you become meaningless.*


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## LivingTree

I'm really curious what this love affair with

It's by doing just anything that you become just anybody

is. 

It just is not the way we say things in English.

And it really does reverse the meaning of the sentence. The original is not meant to be an instruction on how to "become just anybody". It is meant to tell you what will happen if you "do just anything".

Would any English speaker here actually say, for example,

It's by eating too much that you get fat

? Of course not! We would say

If you eat too much you will get fat - or - Eating too much is the way to get fat.


So I could make two suggestions:

If you do just anything you will become just anybody.
-or-
Doing just anything is the way to become just anybody.


I actually liked the "nothing/nobody in particular" proposal as well and possibly even better:

If you do nothing in particular, you will become nobody in particular.
-or-
Doing nothing in particular is the way to become nobody in particular.


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## Itisi

Scrivener said:


> _Any fool can be a zero._


   elegant and to the point!


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## sluicepoint

Have we considered the origin of the sentence?  The original question asked how to translate it while at the same time not losing it's meaning.

I don't know much about the author besides the fact that is a French prankster who seems to enjoy targeting sporting events and police.  The one video I watched was a compilation of his antics and his choice of targets and the efficiency with which he conducts his pranks suggests to me that he is a smart person whose acts are well thought out and deliberate to the extreme.

"It's by doing anything that we become anybody."

He's being himself and enjoying life.  The parties, the harmless pranks against some usually quite conservative institutions, the joy on his face and in some instances in the faces of all those around him - all this combined with his quote makes me think that he's encouraging all of us to live our lives in the ways that will make us happy - do anything and be anyone - what a beautiful thing to believe.


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## Aoyama

Here, once again, the problem lies with the meaning of "n'importe quoi" which originally means "anything (whatsoever)" but here means "stupid", "a stupid thing". You can just say "n'importe quoi !" = "nonsense !", "bullshit !". Hence "faire n'importe quoi" = to act stupid(ly). The following "n'importe qui" is a pun, copied on "n'importe quoi". "Acting stupid will lead you to be a 'nobody'/an idiot/a schmuck".


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## gquixote

If the sentence is being used as some sort of morality directive (acting stupidly will lead you to become a nobody), then that is in direct contradiction to the sense of liberated joy and celebration in the acts performed, as Sluicepoint has pointed out above. This leads me to believe that the sentence is an example of IRONY: Although the sentence proclaims one sentiment, its true meaning is in fact the opposite of what is being said. The ironic nature of the statement is confirmed by the fact that Remi Gaillard has not become a nobody by doing silly things, but rather, an admired celebrity.


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## Aoyama

Evidently there is irony here, but the "philosophical" message of what is primarily a joke shouldn't be overestimated.


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## Icetrance

An  English equivalent: _*Silly is, silly does*_


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## Aristide

What's funny in Rémi Gaillard's motto is that it takes the form of a serious proverb giving advice on life, but is completely absurd. The motto itself is n'importe quoi. Giving people advice so they can become "just anybody" is a joke.


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## guillaumedemanzac

I read the "n'importe quoi" as very negative. "Oh that guy  Il dit n'importe quoi, il fait n'importe quoi."   very dismissive and common in French if you step out of the "zone".
I would keep both halves of this "phrase/motto" with negatives :          Whatever and whoever and however are dismissive in English!

If you behave however you want, you'll become whoever people laugh at.

The meaning is that, if you do whatever you want and behave however you want and say whatever you want, it will not make you popular or famous, just a nobody - n'importe qui.


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## pickarooney

In English we'd just leave it as ambiguous as in French, but shorten it

Do whatever. Be whoever.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Sarcastic: "Fooling around makes the fool." (sounds rather old-fashioned; perhaps "Fools become foolish through practice." (loses the ''n'importe quoi - n'importe qui' balance, though). For the inspirational version, I'd try reversing it: "You can't become somebody if you don't try everything." 

By the way, I've come around 180° from my opinion of a few years ago concerning deleting threads after they've been  inactive for a long time - as seen here!


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## Icetrance

Après avoir lu les ces derniers posts, je proposerais:

_If you act like everyone else, you'll be just like everyone else._


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## Icetrance

The man who said this did pranks on a show. He got famous by doing silly things anyone (any nobody) could do.

In American English, I might say for a translation:*  Amateurs of Idiocy for Nobodies*


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## joelooc

Acting up doesn't make you an (outstanding) actor


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## Icetrance

(To be a somebody), _just be the goofball down the street_.


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## guillaume de manzac m

Back to the original ::: the nearest response yet seems to be #23.

By doing nothing, you become  a nobody.


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## LARSAY

It makes great sense in French and can easily be translated by "Doing anything makes you a nobody"


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## Icetrance

"_By doing nothing makes you a nobody_" and "_Doing anything makes you a nobody_" sound heavily "translated" from the original French.

I would suggest something like, "(To be a somebody), '_just be the goofball down the street'_ (American English)_"_, which means "act and do like the typical person in your neighborhood (a nobody), might make you a somebody. LOL.

I'm not saying that my translation is good, but you have to make it sound like natural-sounding English.


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