"Il y en a toujours l'un qui baise, et l'un qui tourne la joue"  This
is quoted at the end of Nicholas Monsarrat's "The Cruel Sea".  "Il y a
toujours un qui baise, et l?autre qui tend la joue.? Galsworthy "The
White Monkey". "Il ya toujours l'un qui baise, et l'autre qui tend le
joue" Emma B Cobb "What Did Miss Darrington See".  But who are they
all quoting?

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Clarification of Question by jago8-ga on 29 Aug 2005 04:02 PDT

Mmmm.....re le_gritche-ga's comment below, anyone researching this q
would do well to exclude the term "baise-moi" otherwise you get a lot
of rubbish about the film of the same name.

A good question.  The most helpful sources I've seen simply call it a
French proverb.  George Bernard Shaw wrote an English version of the
proverb, but  subsequent to the French version in "What Did Miss
Darrington See."  I doubt that "What Did Miss Darrington See" is the
origin.  So let the search begin!

I'm French and young (means I'm not familiar with all proverbs as it's
rather an old people thing) and I don't know this as a proverb. (Nor
do I know the books, so take that with a grain of salt)

The "tend la joue" part probably refer to Jesus Christ presenting his
other cheek to be slapped, but in the sentence it's about "l'un qui
baise" or "the one who kisses".
"baise" as another translation but it's a slang term and very modern.
It's been since the nineties I would say, so past Montsarrat's version
who sounds old French. (because of the use of "en" with "l'" in "Il y
en a toujours l'un qui baise").

Sorry I'm of little help.