In my country, we have an idiom which literally means : people will not trust you ever again if you don't keep your word even just for once
Are there any idioms in English that is close enough to this? Thanks!
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Sign up to join this communityIn my country, we have an idiom which literally means : people will not trust you ever again if you don't keep your word even just for once
Are there any idioms in English that is close enough to this? Thanks!
This feels quite close to me:
Fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - can't get fooled again.
No, wait, that's not it.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
There we go. Please ignore that first one, it's just someone fumbling it.
The proverb basically means "I'll trust anyone, and they shouldn't take advantage because it is a bad thing to do. But if they do trick me, I would be a fool to trust them again."
Another one that is somewhat similar is the Aesop reference boy who cried wolf.
Once bitten, twice shy can convey the idea: (from TFD)
Prov. When something or someone has hurt you once, you tend to avoid that thing or person.
I once sent in money for something I saw advertised in the back of a magazine, but the merchandise was of such poor quality I was sorry I'd bought it. I'll never buy anything that way again; once bitten, twice shy.