Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
...pèse le plus lourd dans la balance
English translation:
what counts most heavily/carries the most weight
French term
France
Legal, Medical, Marketing & Gaming
Native in: French 
Works in: English to French, French, French to English
...pèse le plus lourd dans la balance
Extrait
" Cela me fait penser à la question que je vous ai posée il y a quelques semaines : étant donné les dégâts qu'un avion en vol inflige à la nature, cela vaut-il la peine, même pour un prédicateur spirituel, de faire le tour du monde comme ça ? Qu'est-ce qui pèse le plus lourd dans la balance : la sagesse que l'on veut partager, ou les dommages infligés à tant d'êtres à cause de la combustion du kérosène ?"
May 28, 2020 14:54: Yvonne Gallagher changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
May 29, 2020 23:43: Barbara Cochran, MFA Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (3): philgoddard, mchd, Yvonne Gallagher
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Proposed translations
United States
Laudable Lady Linguist
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 3 more.
what counts more heavily/carries more weight
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Note added at 30 mins (2020-05-27 13:06:33 GMT)
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Actually, it's "what counts most heavily/carries the most weight".
France
Simultaneous interpreter EN/DE/ESPFR
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France)
Works in: English to French, German to French, Spanish to French, and 2 more.
What weighs most (with)
"Fear is What Weighs Most"
"But what weighs most with me ist that"
| agree |
philgoddard
: But it's more, not most, because there are only two options.
26 mins
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Thanks Phil. You're right.
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Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: US, Canadian, Irish, UK)
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
which is most importand?
which is most importand? = most common
Or, higher register
which outweighs the other?
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Note added at 13 mins (2020-05-27 12:49:30 GMT)
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TYPO ALERT importanT
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Note added at 17 mins (2020-05-27 12:53:53 GMT)
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la sagesse que l'on veut partager, ou les dommages infligés à tant d'êtres à cause de la combustion du kérosène ?
You could also say
which is more important (in the broad scheme of things): the wisdom to be imparted (OR that should be shared) or the harm inflicted on so many beings because of jet fuel combustion?
| agree |
Youssef Chabat
: but more not most.it's a comparison between two elements. I think this is the most accurate translation
49 mins
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Thank you!
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| agree |
katsy
1 day 6 hrs
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Many thanks:-)
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Morocco
A Ph.D. at your service!
Native in: English (Variants: US, UK) , Arabic (Variant: Moroccan) , French (Variants: Standard-France, Moroccan, African)
Works in: English to Arabic, Arabic to English, French to Arabic, and 14 more.
What matters most/has more value/
| agree |
Youssef Chabat
: the most. what matters the most regarding the given factors.
43 mins
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thanks Youssef
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| agree |
Rebecca Reddin
: What matters more[: X or Y]? My search in COCA for 'weighs' and 'more' resulted in 199 hits, virtually all of which referred to literal weight (e.g. tonnage) and not "how important/influential" X is.
2 hrs
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True. Thank You Rebecca.
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| agree |
Sergio Lopes
: Yep!
4 hrs
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Thank you.
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France
Simultaneous interpreter EN/DE/ESPFR
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France)
Works in: English to French, German to French, Spanish to French, and 2 more.
What weighs more
United Kingdom
Sensible solutions
Native in: English (Variant: Wessexois)
Works in: French to English, English, English to French
What weighs more heavily in the balance
United States
Native English
Native in: English
Works in: Norwegian to English, Danish to English, Swedish to English
tip the scales/balance
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Note added at 3 hrs (2020-05-27 15:48:30 GMT)
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tip the balance/scales
(also tilt the balance)
If something tips the balance or tips the scales, it is the thing that causes a particular situation to happen or a particular decision to be made, when other situations or decisions are possible:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/tip-t...
Do the pros/benefits [...] outweigh the cons/costs [...]?
Do the pros of imparting wisdom outweigh the cons of harming so many human beings through pollution?
Do the costs of harming so many human beings through pollution outweigh the benefits of imparting wisdom?
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