A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

A TROUBLE shared is a trouble halved

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  1931 D. L. SAYERS Five Red Herrings ix. ‘Unbosom yourself,’ said Wimsey. ‘Trouble shared is trouble halved.’ 1966 A. CARTER 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 C. GRAHAM 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. 2002 Times 18 Mar. 12 Thorpe’s estranged wife,.. acting under the principle of a problem shared is a problem halved, wanted ‘the truth to come out’. "trouble
  

Never TROUBLE trouble till trouble troubles you

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  1884 Folk-Lore Journal II. 280 Never trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you. 1945 ‘D. B. OLSEN’ Cats don’t Smile i. Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you. I always wondered: what then? 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. 2002 Spectator 20 July 31 He was a master of procrastination or of misunderstanding what he had been told to do. ‘Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you’: that was Junor’s maxim where Beaverbrook was concerned. "trouble
  

trouble (noun) see also do not MEET troubles halfway; NEEDLES and pins,.. when a man marries, his trouble begins.
Many a TRUE word is spoken in jest

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  c 1390 CHAUCER Monk’s Prologue 1. 1964 Be nat wrooth, my lord, though that I pleye. Ful ofte in game a sooth [truth] I have herd seye! a 1628 J. CARMICHAELL Proverbs in Scots no. 1099 Manie suith word said in bourding [jesting]. c 1665 in Roxburghe Ballads (1890) VII. 366 Many a true word hath been spoke in jest. 1738 SWIFT Polite Conversation I. iii. ‘I did a very foolish thing yesterday.’.. ‘They say, many a true Word’s spoken in Jest.’ 1898 G. B. SHAW Widower’s Houses I. in Plays Pleasant & Unpleasant I. 10 There actually are Johannis churches here.. as well as Apollinaris ones. ..There is many a true word spoken in jest. 1979 D. LESSING Shikasta 356 By the time we have finished I expect we shall have a dozen or more [children]. .. Many a true word is spoken in jest. "truth
  

true see also the COURSE of true love never did run smooth; what EVERYBODY says must be true; MORNING dreams come true; what is NEW cannot be true; if it SOUNDS too good to be true, it probably is.