(Also: There’s no smoke without fire)

Meaning: find an effect and you’ll usually find its cause. Origins.
Rewrite 1: when I see smoke, I know to look for fire
Rewrite 2: where there’s a burnn1,2 there’s fire
Rewrite 3: where there’s water there’s often a leak1
Rewrite 4: I don’t need to see horizontal rain to know I’m in a hurricane
Rewrite 5: When things look odd and I see smoke, I know mirrors must be nearby

Comment: I tried to vary both the effect and the cause to broaden the scope of this cliché. Rewrite 5 relates to a different use of the word "smoke," in this case we're talking about deception.

More reading about clichés
What I found when I googled “clichés”:
• Last Holiday: When Old Clichés: Work performance by Queen Latifah, a movie review.

Note: By providing links to other websites I am only showing you what is out there about clichés – I am not endorsing any content or opinion expressed there.

Check out the searchable alphabetical list of all my cliché rewrites available in the archive list at the right.