From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthere’s no smoke without firethere’s no smoke without fire (also where there’s smoke there’s fire) spokenTRUERUMOUR/RUMOR used to say that if something bad is being said about someone, it is probably partly true → smoke
Examples from the Corpus
there’s no smoke without fire• And if you believe there's no smoke without fire, Sean Young must be a towering inferno.• But there's no smoke without fire. 