Can’t (or don’t) Judge a Book by Its Cover

Also: Don’t judge a book by its cover

Meaning of Idiom ‘You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover’

You can’t judge a book by its cover means you should not make decisions or form opinions based solely on outward appearance without knowing more about someone or something.

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Usage

Both variants, using can’t and don’t are common.

Examples Of Use

“He wears t-shirts and jeans and drives a rusty pickup truck, but he runs a successful company. It just goes to show, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“I know your first impression of Jonothan was not good, but don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Origin

Used since the first half of the 1900’s.

This idiom draws an analogy with deciding whether a book is good or bad by only looking at its cover, when, in fact, you cannot really judge the quality of a book without reading it.

More Idioms Starting with C

• Cotton To Someone or Something
• Cotton On To Something
• Give Someone the Cold Shoulder
• Cheap and Cheerful Meaning
• Call Names

More Book Idioms

• Every Name in the Book, been called
• Are You Writing a Book?
• Bookworm
• Read Someone Like a Book
• Open Book, an

More Can’t Idioms

• Can’t See the Forest for the Trees
• You Can’t Miss It
• Can’t Stand Someone or Something
• Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots, a

More Cover Idioms

More Don’t Idioms

• Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t
• Don’t Believe Everything You Read
• Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
• Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk
• Don’t You Dare

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