no news is good news
Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs:
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No news is good news
No newis is bettir then evill newis.
[1616 James I in Loseley MSS (1836) 403]
I am of the Italians mind that said, ‘Nulla nuova, buona nuova’, (no news, good news).
[1640 J. Howell Familiar Letters 3 June (1903) II. 144]
Arguing‥(on the ‘no news being good news’ system) that I should have heard again if anything had gone wrong, I dismissed the subject from my mind.
[1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh x.]
‘He can't reply,’ the Senior Tutor pointed out. ‘I find that most consoling. After all no news is good news.’
[1974 T. Sharpe Porterhouse Blue xxi.]
‘Sigh‥No news is good news.’ ‘I'll say‥It means no rolled-up newspaper.’
[2002 Washington Post 12 Feb. C13 (Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip)]
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Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
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no news is good news
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
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no news is good news
Having no information means that bad developments are unlikely, as in I haven't heard from them in a month, but no news is good news. This proverbial phrase may have originated with King James I of England, who allegedly said "No news is better than evil news" (1616).
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Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Copyright © 1982, 1992, 1998, 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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