nobody's fool

English

Noun

nobody's fool (plural nobody's fools)

1. (set phrase) A person who is not easily deceived or victimized; one who is perceptive, clever, or thoroughly common-sensical.
   • 1910, Jack London, Theft: A Play In Four Acts, Characters:

     Also, he is nobody's fool. He possesses the brain and strength of character to play his part.

   • 1914, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 6, in The Pirate of Panama:

     He was nobody's fool, and there was no doubt but he had very soon detected the trick his cousin had played upon him.

   • 1975, Roger Waters (lyrics and music), “Welcome to the Machine”, in Wish You Were Here, performed by Pink Floyd:

     You didn't like school / And you know you're nobody's fool / So welcome to the machine

   • 1986 January 18, Jack Anderson, “Dance: A Tribute to Jerome Robbins”, in New York Times, retrieved 12 May 2015:

     But one could tell from her assurance that she was nobody's fool and would stand for no nonsense.

   • 2003 December 22, Roderic Dunnett, “Cecilia Bartoli: The singing pioneer”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 12 May 2015:

     Yet her musical stature, and intelligence are undisputed: she is nobody's fool, and she remains, quite simply, a perfectionist.

See also

• suffer fools gladly

Further reading

• “nobody's fool”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “be nobody's fool”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.