There’s bad folk everywhere, and what’s far worse, weak ones.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Novel (1886), Kidnapped, ch. 21 “The Flight in the Heather: The Heugh of Corrynakiegh” [Alan]
(Source)
Expressing concern about being seen, given there's a price on his head.
This chapter was originally published in Young Folks Paper, Vol. 28, No. 813 (1886-06-26).
Quotations about:
untrustworthiness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
He who suspekts everyboddy, should be watched by everyboddy.
[He who suspects everybody should be watched by everybody.]
Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1874-11 (1874 ed.)
(Source)
See Johnson (1763).
In his 1879 Allminax (April), Billings provided a similar adage:Whenever yu cum akrost a man who distrusts everyboddy, yu have found one whom it is safe for everyboddy to distrust.
[Whenever you come across a man who distrusts everybody, you have found one whom it is safe for everybody to distrust.]
If a public man tries to get your vote by saying that he will do something wrong in your interest, you can be absolutely certain that if ever it becomes worth his while he will do something wrong against your interest.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris
(Source)
Women just can’t be trusted any more.
[Ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι πιστὰ γυναιξίν.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 11, l. 456 (11.456) [Agamemnon] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Lombardo (2000), l. 274]
(Source)
The spirit of Agamemnon, who had been slain on his homecoming by Clytemnestra, is giving Odysseus marital advice when they meet in Hades. Agamemnon doesn't mention he had sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia, to raise up good winds before setting sail for Troy.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:For ’tis no world to trust a woman now.
[tr. Chapman (1616)]Remember still, Women unfaithful are.
[tr. Hobbes (1675)]For since of womankind so few are just,
Think all are false, nor even the faithful trust.
[tr. Pope (1725)]For woman merits trust no more.
[tr. Cowper (1792), l. 453]No more are women to be trusted now.
[tr. Worsley (1861), st. 54]For that trust
Henceforth in women must never be plac'd.
[tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 706ff]No trust in women!
[tr. Bigge-Wither (1869), l. 455]For there is no more faith in woman.
[tr. Butcher/Lang (1879) and Palmer (1891)]From now henceforth in women no troth or trust shall be.
[tr. Morris (1887)]For after all this there is no trusting women.
[tr. Butler (1898)]For no longer is there faith in women.
[tr. Murray (1919)]There is no putting faith in women.
[tr. Lawrence (1932)]Women, I tell you, are no longer to be trusted.
[tr. Rieu (1946) and DCH Rieu (2002)]The day of faithful wives is gone forever.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]There is no trusting in women.
[tr. Lattimore (1965)]No woman merits trust.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1990)]The time for trusting women's gone forever! [
tr. Fagles (1996), l. 456]Women can no longer be trusted.
[tr. Kline (2004)]Women are no longer to be trusted.
[tr. Verity (2016)]There is no trusting women any longer.
[tr. Wilson (2018)]No more is there faith in women.
[tr. Green (2018)]For there’s no trust
in women anymore.
[tr. Johnston (2019), l. 577ff]
A weak man wants az mutch watching as a bad one.
[A weak man wants as much watching as a bad.]
Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 133 “Affurisms: Koarse Shot” (1874)