The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (447 page)

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PROVIDENCE is always on the side of the big battalions

Cf.
1673
MME DE SÉVIGNÉ
Letter
22 Dec.
la fortune est toujours
,
comme disait le pauvre M. de Turenne
,
pour les gros bataillons
, fortune is always, as poor Mr. de Turenne used to say, for the big battalions.

1822
Memoirs
v.
Heaven was ever found favourable to strong battalions.
1842
Hist. Europe
X. lxxviii.
Providence was always on the side of dense battalions.
1904
Reginald
63
Someone has observed that Providence is always on the side of the big dividends.
1943
Corpse by any Other Name
iii.
Our statesmen .. ought to have learned years ago that Providence is always on the side of the big battalions.
1979
Guardian
9 July 9
Many thousands more voices now are raised in the name of sanity. But I dare say God is still on the side of the big battalions.

great and small
;
providence

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public

see
one does not WASH one's dirty linen in public
.

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Any PUBLICITY is good publicity

1933
in
Black Mask
Dec. 26
Rhonda Farr said: ‘Publicity, darling. Just publicity. Any kind is better than none at all.’
1974
Dirtiest Picture Postcard
xiv.
Haven't you ever heard the old adman's adage .. ‘any publicity is good publicity’?
1986
Dead Liberty
xii.
Bill wasn't too worried. Like the old trouper he is, he insisted that all publicity is good publicity.
1997
Washington Post
23 Feb. D5
A lot of people probably think that this was a publicity stunt … Certainly, boxers live by the motto that any publicity is good publicity …

public relations

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pudding

see
the PROOF of the pudding is in the eating
.

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