Don't judge a book by its cover

For the Desperate Housewives episode, see You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover (Desperate Housewives). For the song popularized by Bo Diddley, see You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover.

The English idiom "don't judge a book by its cover" is a metaphorical phrase which means "you shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something, by its outward appearance alone".

Early reference

• In George Elliot's "The Mill on the Floss" (1860), Mr Tulliver uses the phrase in discussing Daniel Defoe's "The History of the Devil", saying how it was beautifully bound.
• The preceding version was then publicised by the 1946 murder mystery novel Murder in the Glass Room, in the form of "You can never tell a book by its cover."

See also

• All that glitters is not gold
• Bookbinding
• Face value
• Prima facie

References

• Hirsch, E. D., Joseph Francis Kett, and James Trefil. Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. 3rd ed. 2002. Print. *MLA Format*

External links

• "Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover" at GoEnglish.com (with illustration)