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Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (553 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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THREE may keep a secret, if two of them are dead
1546
Dialogue of Proverbs
II
. v. G4
V
We twayne are one to many (quoth I) for men saie, Three maie keepe a counsell, if two be awaie.
c
1595
Romeo & Juliet
II
. iv. 190
Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say Two may keep counsel, putting one away?
1735
Poor Richard's Almanack
(July)
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
1979
Heberden's Seat
ii.
Two of everything .. two bodies, two causes of death … What was it? ‘Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.’
concealment
;
discretion
THREE removals are as bad as a fire
1758
Poor Richard's Almanack
(Preface)
I never saw an oft removed Tree, Nor yet an oft removed Family, That throve so well, as those that settled be. And again, Three Removes are as bad as a Fire.
1839
Letter
14 Nov. (1965) I. 602
Did you ever ‘move’? .. There is an old proverb that three removes are as bad as a fire.
1931
in
Liberty
5 Sept. 28
Mr. Small's historians have traced at least six removals from place to place after he left his native Portland, and by reckoning ‘three moves as bad as a fire.’.. you may estimate the extent of his misfortune.
change
THREE things are not to be trusted: a cow's horn, a dog's tooth, and a horse's hoof
Cf. 13th-cent. Fr.
dent de chael
,
pé de cheval
,
cul d'enfant ne sunt pas a crere
, a dog's tooth, a horse's hoof, and a baby's bottom are not to be trusted.
c
1383
Scotichronicon
(1759) II. XIV. xxxii.
Till horsis fote thou never traist, Till hondis tooth, no womans faith.
1585
Choice of Change
K2
Trust not 3 things. Dogs teeth. Horses feete. Womens Protestations.
1910
English as We speak it in Ireland
110
Three things are not to be trusted—a cow's horn, a dog's tooth and a horse's hoof.
1948
Elephant & Kangaroo
xiii.
He was .. beginning to worry about being employed by a venomous Englishman. ‘Four things not to trust,’ said the Cashelmor proverb: ‘a dog's tooth, a horse's hoof, a cow's horn, and an Englishman's laugh.’
caution
;
trust and scepticism
BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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