Truth will out

Similar in form to murder will out.

Trouthe wil out. ‥Ryghtwysnesse may nat ben hid.
[1439 Lydgate Life of St. Alban (1974) 203]

Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son may, but in the end truth will out.
[1596 Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. ii. 73]

Whether about a novel or a murder the truth will out.
[1822 M. Edgeworth Letter 17 Jan. (1971) 324]

It has just been announced that the EU is to hold its own public inquiry into the [foot-and-mouth] epidemic, in Strasbourg next year. At last, perhaps, truth will out.
[2001 Spectator 17 Nov. 35]

Related to: concealment; truth

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.

ADVERTISEMENT

The facts will be known, as in She thought she could get away with it, but truth will out, and I'm sure she'll get caught. Shakespeare used this idiom in The Merchant of Venice (2:2): "But in the end truth will out." Also see murder will out.