Try your friend before you trust him.
Try your friend before you trust him.
Meaning in plain English
Let trust grow from observed conduct rather than assuming complete reliability at once. Begin with appropriate, limited reliance and notice how someone handles it before sharing more responsibility.
Example
Before arranging a long house-sitting visit, someone first agrees a brief plant-watering arrangement and discusses access and expectations openly.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
Try means finding out what a person is like through experience. The proverb recommends evidence before substantial trust, particularly when a mistake would carry serious consequences. Small ordinary arrangements may reveal whether someone keeps a confidence, follows through or communicates a problem honestly. It should not be read as permission to set traps or create artificial emergencies. Such tests can damage the very relationship being assessed. The useful approach is gradual and transparent: match reliance to what you know, allow room for mistakes and revise your judgement through patterns rather than one convenient impression.
When to use it
Use it when the consequences of trust justify learning more through ordinary shared experience.
Keep in mind
Avoid deception, intrusive tests or treating a single mistake as a complete account of someone’s character.
Edsverb editorial interpretation · agent reviewed · 2026-10-05. This explains the saying; it does not establish its historical origin.
- Source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 1676 · Try
Read the original context ↗ - Attribution confidence
- traditional · historical anthology
Preserved as printed; independently unverified. - Historical coordinate
- Undated
No reliable date supplied by the collection. - Rights & edition
- Public domain (United States)
Translations and rights may differ elsewhere.
Provenance and licences ↗
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