A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

thick see YORKSHIRE born and Yorkshire bred, strong in the arm and weak in the head.

thicker see BLOOD is thicker than water.

Set a THIEF to catch a thief

Cf. CALLIMACHUS Epigram xliii. being a thief myself I
recognized the tracks of a thief.

1654 E. GAYTON Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixote IV. ii. As they say, set a fool to

catch a fool; a Proverb not of that gravity (as the Spaniards are), but very usefull and

proper. 1665 R. HOWARD Four New Plays 74 According to the old saying, Set a Thief to

catch a Thief. 1812 M. EDGEWORTH Tales of Fashionable Life VI. 446 ‘You have all

your life been evading the laws. .. Do you think this has qualified you peculiarly for being

a guardian of the laws?’ Sir Terence replied, ‘Yes, sure, set a thief to catch a thief is no

bad maxim.’ 2002 Washington Times 13 Jan. A9 A pickpocket specialist with the

Washington Metro Transit Police Department says it may take a thief to catch a thief, but

cops who are trained to think like crooks can do just as well. guile; wrong-doers

thief see also HANG a thief when he’s young, and he’ll no’ steal when he’s old; there is
HONOUR among thieves; the more LAWS, the more thieves and bandits; LITTLE thieves are
hanged, but great ones escape; OPPORTUNITY makes a thief; a POSTERN door makes a
thief; PROCRASTINATION is the thief of time; if there were no RECEIVERS, there would be
no thieves.

When THIEVES fall out, honest men come by their own

1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II. ix. L1 And olde folke vnderstood,

Whan theues fall out, true men come to their good, Which is not alwaie true. a 1640 DAY

& CHETTLE Blind Beggar (1659) IV. G2V Here’s the old Proverb right, When false

Theeves fall out, true men come to their own. 1681 S. COLVIL Whigs’ Supplication II.

53 When thieves reckon, it’s oft-times known That honest people get their own. 1838 A.

JACKSON Letter 26 Mar. in Correspondence (1931) V. 545 You must recollect the old

adage, ‘When rogues fall out, truth is revealed, and honest men get justice.’ 1866 C.

KINGSLEY Hereward the Wake xv. The rogues have fallen out, and honest men may

come by their own. 1980 M. BABSON Queue here for Murder xiii. ‘She’s pretty tied up

with that Arab fellow, isn’t she? They seem thick as thieves.’ ‘But thieves fall out.’..

‘You’re a disgraceful old matchmaker!’ honesty and dishonesty; wrong-doers