après moi le déluge

[ a-pre mwa luh dey-lyzh ]

French.

1. after me, the deluge (attributed to Louis XV, adapted from après nous le déluge “after us the deluge,” credited to Madame de Pompadour: said in reference to signs of the approaching Revolution).

Example Sentences

An optimistic reading of the king’s famous motto — après moi le déluge — refers to what will be, with any luck, a deluge of terrific films.

From Los Angeles Times

“Après moi, le déluge,” King Louis XV of France is thought to have said, decades before the French Revolution.

From Washington Post

“It was always going to be a case of ‘après moi, le deluge,’” he added.

From New York Times

A third, darker pandemic effect was a kind of fatalism, an après moi le déluge attitude festered in months of loneliness, as well as constant news of death and disease.

From New York Times

I’m not going to say “Après moi, le déluge,” because I’m hoping to still be swimming in these troubled waters.

From New York Times