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bred in the bone will come out in the flesh, what's
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Lifelong habits or inherited characteristics cannot be concealed (a similar idea is conveyed by blood of Chancery). The saying is recorded from the late 15th century, and in earlier usage often contained a negative (as in John Heywood's Dialogue of Proverbs (1546), ‘It will not out of the fleshe, that's bred in the bone’, which altered the form and emphasis.
From: bred in the bone will come out in the flesh, what's in The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable »
