Question on a translation

Question

L'argent ne fait pas le moine. I want to translate it in English, can I say" Money does not make the monk"?

Accepted Answer

Hi Abigail,
Just wondering if you are not confusing two sayings-
L'argent ne fait pas le bonheur = Money doesn't bring happiness
and 
L' habit ne fait pas le moine = Don't judge a book by its cover

Answer

Hi Cécile - I think the confusion is deliberate, it's a joke. If you google it you can find it on T-shirts etc. So it's very hard to translate. I think you'd have to take two similar sounding English sayings and mix them up. Or perhaps just use the literal translation - it makes no sense but it's kind of funny.

Answer

Hi Alan,
This is funny as I often mix my metaphors in English like -
A rolling stone is worth two in the bush !
LOL

Answer

Apparently there was a short film called this, which was translated as "Monks that money can buy".https://www.annecy.org/about/archives/1981/official-selection/film-index:film-810179