A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

The TREE is known by its fruit
With allusion to MATTHEW xii. 33 (AV) The tree is known by his fruit.

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  1528 W. TYNDALE Obedience of Christian Man 88^V Judge the tre by his frute, and not by his leves. 1597-8 SHAKESPEARE Henry IV, Pt. 1 II. iv. 414 If then the tree may be known by the fruit.. there is virtue in that Falstaff. 1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 11 A tree is known by the fruit, and not by the leaves. 1896 J. A. FROUDE Council of Trent iv. Lutherans said the tree is known by its fruit. Teach a pure faith, and abuses will disappear. 1928 D. H. LAWRENCE Lady Chatterley’s Lover iv. The mental life.. [is] rooted in spite and envy. .. Ye shall know the tree by its fruit. 1955 S. N. GHOSE Flame of Forest I. 15 ‘I never judge a man by his mask.’ ‘A tree should be judged by its fruits,’ Myna responded. ■ appearance; human nature
  

tree see also the APPLE never falls far from the tree; he that would EAT the fruit must climb the tree; when the LAST tree is cut down,.. you will realize that you cannot eat money; you cannot SHIFT an old tree without it dying; as the TWIG is bent, so is the tree inclined; WALNUTS and pears you plant for your heirs; a WOMAN, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be.
trick see you can’t TEACH an old dog new tricks.
There are TRICKS in every trade

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  1632 M. PARKER (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 R. L’ESTRANGE 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 E. BENNETT Border Rover vi. ‘I would be willing to swear you had bewitched this rifle.’.. ‘Thar’s tricks to all trades ‘cept ourn.’ 1978 L. BLOCK 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. 1987 S. STEWART Lifting the Latch 87 ‘Theer’s a trick in every trade,’ he was fond of saying, ‘bar besom[broom]-making, and the biggest stick goes in the middle theer.’ "business; trades and skills