Meaning:
An item of good quality needs no advertisement.
Background:
Establishments like inns and pubs used to hang ivy and flowers to tell
travelers that wine was available inside.
Shakespearean.
https://www.freedomofthepress.co.uk/blog-1/good-wine-needs-no-bush
Examples:
The product I've invented is so excellent that it needs no ad campaign, just
as good wine needs no bush.
I've always believed good wine needs no bush, which keeps me from falling
prey to a lot of online ads.
How good can this product be, with all of these celebrity spokespeople?
Clearly, they don't know that good wine needs no bush!
https://www.thefreedictionary.com [edited]
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It's true until the good winery needs to scale, to share the blessing, to fund a
grander church, for global charity, etc. Often it boils down to simple greed.
Ars gratia artis no longer cuts it. Greed has long been made good.
They succeed and go public, owners cash out, the firm projects growth, pays a
dividend, and every quarter files a report. It becomes an efficient tool for
screwing the winos and management enriching themselves. Next, a hungry young
entrepreneur happens to dine at a bushless dive a few blocks down the same old
street... Lather, rinse, repeat.
