- still waters run deep
- Now commonly used to assert that a placid exterior hides a passionate or subtle nature. Cf. Q. CURTIUS De Rebus Gestis Alexandri Magni VII. iv. 13 altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi, the deepest rivers flow with least sound [said there to be a Bactrian saying].
c 1400 Cato’s Morals in Cursor Mundi (EETS) 1672 There the flode is deppist the water standis stillist.
c 1410 J. LYDGATE Minor Poems (EETS) 476 Smothe waters ben ofte sithes [oftentimes] depe.
1616 T. DRAXE Adages 178 Where riuers runne most stilly, they are the deepest.
1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 287 Smooth Waters run deep.
1858 D. M. MULOCK Woman’s Thoughts about Women xii. In maturer age..the fullest, tenderest tide of which the loving heart is capable may be described by those ‘still waters’ which ‘run deep’.
1979 M. UNDERWOOD Victim of Circumstances II. 86 As for her, still waters run deep, it seems. She always looked so solemn... Fancy her shooting him!
2001 National Review 30 Apr. 60 Still waters run deep, so they say. The stillest and deepest belonged to Greta Garbo, who abruptly ended a dispute with Hollywood’s moguls by saying, ‘I tink I go home now.’ She meant Sweden.
Proverbs new dictionary.