trust everybody, but cut the cards

English

Alternative forms

• 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

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

trust everybody, but cut the cards

1. 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.

   • 2013, William C. Prentiss, One Man In His Time: A Memoir, →ISBN, page 413:

     I was often reminded of Mr. Dooley's famous admonition to “Trust everybody, but cut the cards.” We did “cut the cards” by installing a fake camera high on one wall and pointed at the cash register.

   • 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

• 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.

• 1997, Ronald J. Hrebenar, Interest Group Politics in America, →ISBN, page 147:

  As one lobbyist put it, "You trust your mother, but you always cut the cards."

See also

• divide and choose (game theory)
• trust, but verify