Finley Peter Dunne? Martin Dooley? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: One should be generous when conveying trust, but one should not be gullible or naïve. One must take precautions and defend oneself. An adage from the domain of card games presents this viewpoint:
Trust everybody, but cut the cards.
This notion has been attributed to the U.S. humorist Finley Peter Dunne, but I have not seen a citation. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Beginning in the 1890s Finley Peter Dunne published newspaper columns in the voice of a fictional Irish bartender named Martin Dooley. The columns used nonstandard spelling to reflect the pronunciation of a recent Irish immigrant. In 1900 Dunne published a book titled “Mr. Dooley’s Philosophy”. A section titled “Casual Observations” included the following item:1
Thrust ivrybody—but cut th’ ca-ards.
Here is the standard spelling:
Trust everybody—but cut the cards.
Here are three other items from the same page of the book which illustrate the eye dialect. The items are accompanied with renderings in standard English:
’Tis as hard f’r a rich man to enther th’ kingdom iv Hiven as it is f’r a poor man to get out iv Purgatory.
It’s as hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven as it is for a poor man to get out of Purgatory.
Ivry man has his superstitions. If I look at a new moon over me shoulder I get a crick in me neck.
Every man has his superstitions. If I look at a new moon over my shoulder I get a crick in my neck.
If ye dhrink befure siven ye’ll cry befure iliven.
If you drink before seven you’ll cry before eleven.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
The importance of cutting the cards to reduce cheating inspired the creation of a concise adage which predated the expression under examination. In 1894 a newspaper in Everett, Pennsylvania printed the following:2
Always Cut the Cards.
In 1895 Finley Peter Dunne used the phrase “cut th’ ca-ards” with its distinctive spelling within a newspaper column about “Church Fairs” written in the voice of Martin Dooley, but Dunne did not include the prefatory remark about trusting everybody:3
‘Well,’ says Flaherty, ‘I’m appointed be th’ parish f’r to cut th’ ca-ards with ye,’ he says, ‘f’r to see whither ye give back what ye won or take what’s lift.’
In 1897 Dunne employed the phrase “cut his ca-ards” within his column, but Dunne did not mention trust:4
“That man Shay used to come into my place an’ play forty-five with me. But d’ye suppose I cud challenge his count as I do other people’s, or ask to cut his ca-ards?”
“Ye’d be afraid he’d lick ye,” suggested Mr. Hennessy.
In October 1900 the “New York Journal” published excerpts from the recently published book “Mr. Dooley’s Philosophy”. Dunne’s adage about cards appeared, but the spelling was slightly different. The word “the” occurred instead of the contraction “th’”:5
Thrust ivrybody but cut the ca-ards.
In November 1900 “The Democrat” newspaper of Noblesville, Indiana printed the saying without an attribution to Dunne:6
The gamblers motto is: Trust everybody but cut the cards. Moral: Let every democrat trust his fellow democrat on the day of the election, but be sure he gets his vote in for Bryan and the party.
A week later a newspaper in Marietta, Ohio printed the following:7
We believe our Irish friend Dooley knew his business when he said: “Thrust ivrybody, but cut the ca-ards.”
There are many who deem themselves unfortunate who can attribute their trials to foolish indiscretions.
In 1902 H. E. T. Haultain delivered an address to young mining engineers in Canada, and he included the saying without attribution:8
Let me finish up by giving you some disconnected bits of advice on matters in general.
Treat every friend as if some day he might be your enemy, and treat your enemy as if some day he might be your friend.
In making investigations or examinations take absolutely nothing for granted.
Trust everybody but cut the cards.
In 1905 the novel “Terence O’Rourke: Gentleman Adventurer” by Louis Joseph Vance included a variant with “every man” instead of “everybody”:9
“One moment monsieur!” interposed O’Rourke “There’s a man of me race that has said, ‘Trust every man, but cut the cards.’ Faith, I’m thinking that’s good advice.”
In 1907 Finley Peter Dunne wrote again about cutting the cards in his newspaper column:10
“Well,” said Mr. Hennessy, “I’ve heerd it said that all life’s a gamble.”
“It is,” said Mr. Dooley; “but it ain’t a bad idee whin ye set into th’ game to larn how to play it an’ to cut th’ cards deep.”
In 1979 John Peers published the compilation “1,001 Logical Laws” which included the following:11
Finley Peter Dunne’s Credo :
Trust everybody; but always cut the cards.
In summary, Finley Peter Dunne deserves credit for this saying which appeared in 1900 within the book “Mr. Dooley’s Philosophy”. The book was authored by Dunne’s fictional alter ego Martin Dooley. Dunne’s original instance employed nonstandard spelling: “Thrust ivrybody—but cut th’ ca-ards”.
Image Notes: Picture of playing cards from Amanda Jones at Unsplash. The image has been retouched, cropped, and resized.
Acknowledgements: Great thanks to Bill Mullins, William Kalush, and Richard Hatch whose discussion via e-mail led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. The discussants identified key citations. Also, thanks to previous researchers such as Emily Morison Beck who included the original instance in the fourteenth Edition of “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations” in 1968.
- 1900, Mr. Dooley’s Philosophy by Finley Peter Dunne, Casual Observations, Quote Page 260, R. H. Russell Publisher, New York. (HathiTrust Full View) link ↩︎
- 1894 January 12, Everett Press, Always Cut the Cards, Quote Page 3, Column 2, Everett, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1895 September 8, The Salt Lake Tribune, Mr. Dooley On Church Fairs, Quote Page 15, Column 3, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1897 August 9, The Kansas City Journal, What Philosopher Dooley Says, Quote Page 4, Column 6, Kansas City, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1900 October 28, New York Journal and Advertiser, Section: Editorial, Some Casual Observations of Mr. Dooley: From “Mr. Dooley’s Philosophy,” just published by R. H. Russell, Quote Page 25, Column 4, New York, New York. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
- 1900 November 2, The Democrat, (Untitled short article), Quote Page 2, Column 2, Noblesville, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1900 November 8, Marietta Daily Leader, Some Observations, Quote Page 6, Column 2, Marietta, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1902, Papers Read Before the Engineering Society of the School of Practical Science Toronto, Date: February 1902, Location: Nelson, B.C., The Young Graduate and the Profession of Mining Engineering by H. E. T. Haultain, Start Page 63, Quote Page 80, The Carswell Company, Toronto, Canada.(Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1905, Terence O’Rourke: Gentleman Adventurer by Louis Joseph Vance, Part One, Chapter 6: He Draws One Card, Quote Page 50, A. Wessels Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1907 July 20, The Bulletin, Mr. Dooley On the Sport of Kings by F. P. Dunne, Quote Page 6, Column 5, San Francisco, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1979, 1,001 Logical Laws, Accurate Axioms, Profound Principles, Compiled by John Peers, Edited by Gordon Bennett, Section: Great Thoughts For Decision Makers, Quote Page 69, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York. (Verified with hardcopy) ↩︎