The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (570 page)

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Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

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There are TRICKS in every trade
1632
(title)
Knavery in all Trades.
1654
Mercurius Fumigosus
12–19 July 49
If there be not Knavery in All Trades, I shrewdly am mistaken.
1692
Fables of Aesop
clxxxiii.
Jupiter appointed Mercury to make him a Composition of Fraud and Hypocrisie, and to give Every Artificer his Dose on't… Mercury .. gave the Taylors the Whole Quantity that was Left; and from hence comes the Old Saying, There's Knavery in All Trades, but Most in Taylors.
1857
Border Rover
vi.
‘I would be willing to swear you had bewitched this rifle.’ .. ‘Thar's tricks to all trades 'cept ourn.’
1948
Dinner at Antoine's
xx.
There's tricks to all trades. Running down murderers is one way of making a living, so that makes it a trade.
1978
Burglar in Closet
xvii.
You age them [bills, paper money] .. by cooking them with a little coffee—well, there are tricks in every trade-and I don't .. know some of the ones the counterfeiters have come up with.
business
A TROUBLE shared is a trouble halved
1931
Five Red Herrings
ix.
‘Unbosom yourself,’ said Wimsey. ‘Trouble shared is trouble halved.’
1966
Shadow Dance
viii.
He found he wanted to share the experience of the previous night with Edna (a trouble shared is a trouble halved).
1987
Killings at Badger's Drift
7
She had never felt more keenly the truth of the saying ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved.’ But she had lived in a small village long enough to know that what she had discovered could safely be discussed with no one.
trouble
Never TROUBLE trouble till trouble troubles you
1884
Folk-Lore Journal
II. 280
Never trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you.
1945
Cats don't Smile
i.
Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you. I always wondered: what then?
1972
Rise & fall of British Nanny
332
Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.
1983
Good Housekeeping
Oct. 75
Talking of proverbs, there is an old Yorkshire saying: never trouble trouble, till trouble troubles thee. To which I would add the rider: and when it does trouble thee, keep it to thyself.
trouble

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