Hi, I'm trying my best to find the correct Victor Hugo quote that I would like to use for a project. The English translation for the quote is:

“Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.”

I was not looking for a literal French translation of the English, but rather the actual original French quote. This is the only one I could find online:

"Avoir le courage pour les grandes douleurs de la vie et la patience pour les petites ; et quand vous avez laborieusement accompli votre journal charger, aller dormir dans la paix. Dieu est éveillé"

The only problem is that I'm suspicious of this as being a bad translation and not the actual quote; for example, the term "journal charger" rings no bells with me, and would seem to mean "newspaper to load" (?), unless it is a term that I am unfamiliar with.

Similarly, the ending sentence "aller dormir" doesn't seem correct either. ("to go to sleep" instead of "go to sleep")

My guess is that maybe the person mixed up "journal charger" with "journée chargée", (although I'm not sure if that works either) and "aller" with "allez".

Any insights? Opinions? I really need a native speaker to help me with this one. Is that French quote correct, or am I right to be suspicious?

- meg

I would have it translated as follows

Ayez le courage pour les grandes tristesses de vie et la patience pour les petits; et quand vous avez laborieusement accompli votre tâche quotidienne, vous endormez dans la paix. Dieu est éveillé.

hope it helps you

It is a literal translation, you are correct that "journal charger" is not French. Also "aller dormir dans la paix" should be "allez dormir en paix". I also think that "Dieu est eveille" is strange, it is correct but strange. I will try and find the correct quote.

This non-native speaker found:
"Courage pour les grandes douleurs de la vie, et patience pour les petites. Et puis, quand vous avez laborieusement accompli votre ouvrage de chaque jour, endormez-vous avec sérénité. Dieu veille."

The "re-"translation is hilarious. Reminds me of a Japanese novel in which someone was reading a passage in an American poem: "I am aging. I will wear my pants high-wasted... Some women wander chatting about Michelangeo."