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Thee is a skeleton on every house.
Author: Unattributed Author
Source: Italian Tales of Humour, Gallantry and Romance, s saying in a story
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A man can hide all things, excepting twain--
That he is drunk, and that he is in love.
Author: Antiphanes of Macedonia
Source: Fragmenta
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For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak
freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden
from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.
Author: Bible
Source: Acts (ch. XXVI, v. 26)
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The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever,
that we may do all the words of this law.
Author: Bible
Source: Deuteronomy (ch. XXIX, v. 29)
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Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon;
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters
of the uncircumcised triumph.
Author: Bible
Source: II Samuel (ch. I, v. 20)
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For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither
any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Author: Bible
Source: Luke (ch. VIII, v. 17)
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When we desire to confine our words, we commonly say they are
spoken under the rose.
- Sir Thomas Browne,
Author: Sir Thomas Browne
Source: Vulgar Errors--Of speaking Under the Rose--Pseudodoxia (5, 23)
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Est rosa flos Veneris cujus quo furta laterent.
[Roughly meaning, The discourses of the table among true loving
friends are held in strict silence.]
Author: Sir Thomas Browne
Source: Vulgar Errors--Of speaking Under the Rose--Pseudodoxia (5, 23)
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For thre may kepe a counsel, if twain be awaie.
Author: Geoffrey Chaucer
Source: The Ten Commandments of Love (41)
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Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.
Author: Benjamin Franklin
Source: Poor Richard
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As witnesses that the things were not done in a corner.
- Gen. Thomas Harrison,
Author: Gen. Thomas Harrison
Source: Defence at his trial--Account of the Trial of Twenty Regicides (p. 39)
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Never inquire into another man's secret; bur conceal that which
is intrusted to you, though pressed both be wine and anger to
reveal it.
[Lat., Arcanum neque tu scrutaveris ullius unquam, commissumve
teges et vino tortus et ira.]
Author: Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Source: Epistles (I, 18, 37)
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We trust our secrets to our friends, but they escape from us in
love.
[Fr., L'on confie son secret dans l'amitie, mais il echappe dans
l'amour.]
Author: Jean de la Bruyere
Source: Les Caracteres (IV)
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When a secret is revealed, it is the fault of the man who
confided it.
Author: Jean de la Bruyere
Source: Les Caracteres (V)
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Nothing is so oppressive as a secret: women find it difficult to
keep one long; and I know a goodly number of men who are women in
this regard.
[Fr., Rien ne pese tant qu'un secret:
Le porter loin est difficile aux dames;
Et je sais meme sur ce fait
Bon nombre d'hommes que sont femmes.]
Author: Jean de la Fontaine
Source: Fables (VIII, 6)
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How can we expect another to keep our secret if we cannot keep it
ourselves.
Author: Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Source: Maxims (no. 90)
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Men conceal the past scenes of their lives.
[Lat., Vitae poscaenia celant.]
Author: Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus)
Source: De Rerum Natura (IV, 1,182)
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I have play'd the fool, the gross fool, to believe
The bosom of a friend will hold a secret
Mine own could not contain.
Author: Philip Massinger
Source: Unnatural Combat (act V, sc. 2)
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A secret at home is like rocks under tide.
Author: Dinah Maria Mulock (used pseudonym Mrs. Craik)
Source: Magnus and Morna (sc. 2)
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He who gives up the smallest part of a secret has the rest no
longer in his power.
[Ger., Wer den kleinsten Theil eines Geheimnisses hingibt, hat
den andern nicht mehr in der Gewalt.]
Author: Jean Paul Richter
Source: Titan (zykel 123)
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If you wish another to keep your secret, first keep it to
yourself.
Author: Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Source: Hippolytus (876)
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Leave in concealment what has long been concealed.
[Lat., Latere semper patere, quod latuit diu.]
Author: Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Source: Oedipus (826)
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I pray you all,
If you have hitherto concealed this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still.
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding but no tongue.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Hamlet at I, ii)
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But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Ghost at I, v)
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Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say,
Two may keep counsel, putting one away?
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Romeo and Juliet (Nurse at II, iv)
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To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.
Author: Samuel Johnson
Source: None
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Trust him not with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers.
Author: Johann Kaspar Lavater
Source: None
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Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.
Author: Samuel Johnson
Source: None
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I usually get my stuff from people who promised somebody else that they would keep it a secret.
Author: Walter Winchell
Source: None
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Secrets are things we give to others to keep for us.
Author: Elbert Hubbard
Source: None
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He who trusts secrets to a servant makes him his master.
Author: John Dryden
Source: None
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Never tell a secret to a bride or a groom; wait until they have been married longer.
Author: Ed Howe
Source: None
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The mind of a wise man is the safest custody of secrets; cheerfulness is the key to friendship; patience and forbearance will conceal many defects.
Author: Hazrat Ali (a.s)
Source: None
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