English Proverb: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire
Every rumour is based on some truth or where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Rumours don’t usually come out of thin air. Often there is a misunderstanding or a misinterpretation of something that leads to a rumour.
The rumour itself may be untrue, but it’s often based on some truth.
Another meaning of the proverb where there’s smoke, there’s fire is that if something seems wrong, quite often something is wrong, we just haven’t found it yet.
You know, you could be driving your car down the highway on a beautiful sunny day and then off in the distance you notice more cars are going in the opposite direction.
Then you see cars turning around. Hmm, you think to yourself, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Everybody must know something I don’t. Then as you drive along a bit more, you notice the forest fire in the mountains.
You did not smell the smoke from the fire, but you realized the behaviour of the people around you was somehow unusual, and you knew that something was just not right because where there’s smoke, there’s fire.