The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (579 page)
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TWO is company, but three is none
The alternative ending is
three's a crowd
.
1706
Spanish & English Dict.
s.v. Compañia,
A Company consisting of three is worth nothing. It is the Spanish Opinion, who say that to keep a Secret three are too many, and to be Merry they are too few.
1860
Season Ticket
viii.
Three is a very inconvenient limitation, constituting, according to an old adage, ‘no company.’
1869
English Proverbs
442
Two is company, but three is none.
1944
Modern Language Notes
LIX. 517
Two's company, three's a crowd.
1979
Love & Land Beyond
viii.
Two's company and three's none, so one of the three has been taken out of the game.
friends
three's a crowd
.
1706Spanish & English Dict.
s.v. Compañia,
A Company consisting of three is worth nothing. It is the Spanish Opinion, who say that to keep a Secret three are too many, and to be Merry they are too few.
1860
Season Ticket
viii.
Three is a very inconvenient limitation, constituting, according to an old adage, ‘no company.’
1869
English Proverbs
442
Two is company, but three is none.
1944
Modern Language Notes
LIX. 517
Two's company, three's a crowd.
1979
Love & Land Beyond
viii.
Two's company and three's none, so one of the three has been taken out of the game.
friends
TWO of a trade never agree
1630Second Part of Honest Whore
II. 154
It is a common rule, and 'tis most true, Two of one trade never loue.
1673
Careless Lovers
A2
V
Two of a Trade can seldome agree.
1727
Fables
I
. xxi.
In every age and clime we see, Two of a trade can ne'er agree.
1887
Poems
(1978) I. 148
Two of a trade, lass, never agree! Parson and Doctor!—don't they love rarely, Fighting the devil in other men's fields!
1914
Beasts & Super-Beasts
96
The snorts and snarls .. went far to support the truth of the old saying that two of a trade never agree.
1981
Queen Mother
vii.
There is an old adage, ‘Two of a kind never agree.’
quarrelsomeness;
similarity and dissimilarity
If TWO ride on a horse, one must ride behind
1598–99Much Ado about Nothing
III
. v. 34
An two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind.
c
1628
Berkeley MSS
(1885) III. 32
If two ride upon an horse one must sit behinde; meaninge, That in each contention one must take the [defeat].
1874
Uncle John
I. x.
There is an old adage .. ‘When two ride on one horse, one must ride behind.’
1942
Posted for Murder
VI
. iii.
There comes a point when you are very exasperating … ‘When two ride on one horse, one must ride behind.’ But I'm getting off for a while.
1986
Mystery Lady
(1988) iv.
Collboration on a book is an awkward business. If two people ride one horse, one of them must ride behind.
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