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So when two dogs are fighting in the streets,
When a third dog one of the two dogs meets:
With angry teeth he bites him to the bone,
And this dog smarts for what that dog has done.

— Henry Fielding Tom Thumb the Great (1730)

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Tom Thumb the Great (1730), Act I, scene 5, line 55.
Work: Tom Thumb the Great, 1730
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

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Depend on me; never fear your enemies. I'll warrant we make more noise than they.

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It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on the mind than precepts.

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Can any man have a higher notion of the rule of right and the eternal fitness of things?

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Guilt has very quick ears to an accusation.

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When widows exclaim loudly against second marriages, I would always lay a wager that the man, if not the wedding day, is absolutely fixed on.

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In reality, the world have payed too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them men of much greater profundity than they really are.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Henry Fielding (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.