The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (575 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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1562
De Neutralibus
G6
V
The truth lyeth yet still drowned in the depe.
1578
tr.
J. Iver's Courtly Controversy
90
I shall conduct you .. vnto the Mansion where the truth so long hidden dothe inhabite, the which sage Democritus searched in the bottom of a well.
a
1721
Dialogues of Dead
(1907) 225
You know the Antient Philosophers said Truth lay at the bottom of a Well.
1887
Democracy
30
Truth .. is said to lie at the bottom of a well.
c
1943
Murder minus Motive
xii.
Truth .. is reputed to reside at the bottom of a well. I've often conned that old saw over to myself, and .. its originators must have meant that truth is often damned hard to discern.
1973
Appleby's Answer
xiii.
He was picking up a stone, which he now tossed into the well … ‘I wonder what's at the bottom of it. Truth—could it conceivably be?’ ‘Truth at the bottom of the well?’ There was a trace of impatience in Dr. Howard's voice. ‘A foolish proverb.’
concealment
;
truth
TRUTH will out
Similar in form to
MURDER will out
.
1439
Life of St. Alban
(1974) 203
Trouthe wil out … Ryghtwysnesse may nat ben hid.
1596
Merchant of Venice
II
. ii. 73
Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son may, but in the end truth will out.
1822
Letter
17 Jan. (1971) 324
Whether about a novel or a murder the truth will out.
1979
Mortal Affair
x.
The time would come when she .. would want to cash in on the Trust fund and truth would out.
concealment
;
truth
Every TUB must stand on its own bottom
A proverb advocating independence and initiative.
1564
Dialogue against Fever
48
V
Let euery Fatte [vat] stande vpon his owne bottome.
1639
Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina
66
Every tub must stand on his owne bottome.
1721
Refusal
v. 721
I have nothing to do with that… Let every Tub stand on its own Bottom.
1866
Griffith Gaunt
I. vi.
There is an old saying, ‘Let every tub stand on its own bottom.’
1948
Still glides Stream
iv.
‘Every tub must stand on its own bottom,’ was one of his homely ways of expressing the individual independence desirable in children.
independence

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