Never Judge A Book By Its Cover – Meaning, Origin and Examples

Never/Don’t Judge a book by its cover

I am pretty sure you know that there is a phrase, face is the index of mind. This means that, with the expression one shows on their face, it will be easy to guess what’s in their mind. However, ‘never judge a book by its cover’ is a different phrase altogether. This phrase is not talking about books. If it were so, you should always judge a book by its cover. You can’t expect Harry Potter’s magic inside a book with a cover that says, Alice In Wonderland. So, ‘never judge a book by its cover’ is usually associated with people and their undisclosed talents.

Meaning of Never Judge a book by its cover

‘Never judge a book by its cover’ means you should never presume one’s skill or the value of something, just by how they look from the outside.

Origin of the phrase You can’t judge a book by its cover

Initially, the phrase, never judge a book by its cover, just like most other English phrases, had a literal meaning. It means, people usually buy books only by looking at the cover. Many good stories might be overlooked by them if they don’t try to give a glance to what’s inside the books. In 1944, this phrase was used for the very first time in an African American journal speech, which mentioned, ‘you can’t judge a book by its binding’. This phrase became very popular when it was used in the famous ‘murder in the glass room’ book which was published in 1946. In this book, the phrase was used as “you can never tell a book by its cover’.

Examples

1) An ideal example for this phrase would be jackfruit. This is an exotic tropical fruit that is available in abundance in Asia. The skin of the jackfruit resembles thorns (not so sharp, not amusing either). However, when it is cut open, much to your surprise, there will be yummy slices which are sure to kill the drought in any mouth with its unbelievable taste. Taste it once, you’ll know why it is called as an exotic fruit.

2) Another example for the phrase, never judge a book by its cover could be, the legendary Indian cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar. He was just 16 years old when he made his international debut against Pakistan in Karachi. He looked so little. He just scored a mere 15 runs. The world took him so lightly as a cricketer. Everything that happened later in his career was nothing short of spectacular. He scored 100 international tons and people used to call him the little master, master blaster, God of cricket, etc. The person who selected Sachin Tendulkar for the Indian team surely must have known the meaning of the phrase, ‘Never judge a book by its cover’.

3) Some people might not look very approachable. If you do take the initiative of talking to them, you will understand better the meaning of ‘never judge a book by its cover’.

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