One dog barks at something, and a hundred bark at the bark.

The proverb satirizes herd behavior and the contagious spread of alarm or opinion. One dog may bark for a real reason—having seen something—yet the rest join in reflexively, responding not to the original stimulus but to the noise itself. Applied to human affairs, it describes how rumors, moral panics, and fashionable judgments propagate: many people repeat a claim because others are repeating it, not because they have verified it. The image also hints at social pressure and signaling—barking along shows membership in the group. As a caution, it urges skepticism, independent observation, and restraint before amplifying what may be baseless.