trust everybody, but cut the cards
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- trust everybody, but always cut the cards
- trust everybody, but cut the deck
- trust every man, but cut the cards
- trust your friends, but cut the cards
Etymology edit
Reportedly coined by Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) and expressed in dialect by his character "Mr. Dooley" in Mr. Dooley's Philosophy (1900), p. 260: "Thrust ivrybody—but cut th' ca-ards."
Proverb edit
trust everybody, but cut the cards
- Have general faith in the good intentions of others, but never neglect to take appropriate precautions against being deceived or cheated.
- 1997, Donald L. Miller, City of the Century, →ISBN, page 526:
- A deep-dyed fatalist, sentimental yet cynical—"Trust everybody," he is fond of saying, "but cut the cards"—his running history of his Chicago tribe is a struggle of clan and family survival, with little help from outsiders.
- 2014, Robert C. Chandler, Business and Corporate Integrity, →ISBN, page xxiv:
- It's a version of President Ronald Reagen's famous statements “trust but verify” and “trust everybody, but cut the cards.” We the public are tired of being duped, and we are now ready to hold companies responsible and accountable.
Usage notes edit
- Many variations are found, as in:
- 1996, Susan Porter Benson, "Living on the Margin" in The Sex of Things (Victoria De Grazia, ed.), →ISBN, p. 236 (Google preview):
- Even in the most promising circumstances, a woman might trust her husband but still cut the cards.
See also edit
- divide and choose (game theory)
- trust, but verify