meet

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meet do not meet troubles half-way proverbial saying, late 19th century, warning against anxiety about something that has not yet happened; the Roman philosopher and poet Seneca the Younger (c.4 bc–ad 65) has, ‘what help is it to run out to meet your troubles?’ A similar idea is found in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing (1599), ‘Are you come to meet your trouble? The fashion of the world is to avoid cost.’ (Compare never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.)

See also when Greek meets Greek.

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