The absent are always at fault.
Meaning: Those not present to defend themselves get the blame.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and German
- French: Les absents ont toujours tort (literally: The absent are always in the wrong)
- Spanish: Ni ausente sin culpa, ni presente sin disculpa (literally: Neither an absent one without blame, nor a present one without an excuse)
- German: Die Abwesenden haben immer unrecht (literally: The absent ones are always in the wrong)
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Give neither advice nor salt until you are asked for it. — Offer advice only when it's asked for; unsolicited counsel is rarely welcome.
- What every one asks, what every one gives, but what very few take--advice. — Everyone seeks and gives advice, yet almost no one actually follows it.
- Two of a trade seldom agree. — Rivals in the same business rarely agree; competition breeds friction between them.
- Agues come on horseback, but go away on foot. — Sickness arrives suddenly but lingers, leaving far more slowly than it came.
- None knows the weight of another's burden. — No one can truly feel how heavy another person's troubles are.
- April and May are the keys of the year. — Spring's weather sets the course for the whole year's growth and harvest.