vous ne savez pas où le bât le blesse

“Je sçay mieux où le bas me blesse.” Maistre Pierre Pathelin, l. 1357. Bât = pack-saddle. Compare the German: Jeder weiss am besten wo ihn der Schuh drückt.\nThe phrase first appears in Plutarch’s Life of Æmilius Paullus. A certain Roman having forsaken his wife, her friends fell out with him and asked what fault he found in her; was she not faithful and fair, and had she not borne him many beautiful children? He replied by putting forth his foot and saying: “Is not this a goodly shoe? Is it not finely made, and is it not new? And yet I dare say there is not one of you can tell where it pinches me.”