Modern Proverb: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. (antedating exact 1916)

[Garson O'Toole]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

This quote was recently discussed on the excellent Freakonomics:
Quotes Uncovered blog at the New York Times website. Here is an
antedating of the 1947 cite using the same wording:

Citation: 1916, Autographs and Memoirs of the Telegraph by Jeff W.
Hayes, Some Class by Edward F. Wach, Page 153, S.F. Finch, Michigan.
(Google Books full view)

THE North American Indian has a favorite axiom, which runs like this:
        "Fool me once, shame on you.
          Fool me twice, shame on me."

http://books.google.com/books?id=kNlLAAAAYAAJ&q=shame#v=snippet&

The online Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs traces the proverb back to
the 17th century, but the earlier maxim uses a different verb: to
deceive. The reference cites an 1844 republication of a work dated
1611. Google Books now contains at least two copies of the work,
Tarlton's Jests, in full view.

Citation: [1611 original date for Tarlton's Jests. Reprint] 1844,
Tarlton's Jests: and News Out of Purgatory edited by James Orchard
Halliwell, Page 11, Printed for the Shakespeare Society, F. Shoberl,
London. (Google Books full view)

          Tarltons Jest to an unthrifty courtier.

There was an unthriftie gallant belonging to the court that had borowd
five pounds of Tarlton; but having lost it at dice, he sent his man to
Tarlton to borrow five pounds more, by the same token hee owed him
already five pounds. Pray tel your master, quoth Tarlton, that if he
will send me the token, I will send him the money; for who deceives me
once, God forgive him; if twice, God forgive him; but if thrice, God
forgive him, but not me, because I could not beware.

http://books.google.com/books?id=FRCaAAAAIAAJ&q=deceives#v=snippet&
http://books.google.com/books?id=qjKFeolyM5cC&q=deceives#v=snippet&

Google Books also has a scan of a facsimile reproduction of the 1638
publication of Tarlton's Jests. However, the optical character
recognition‎ (OCR) algorithm has been almost completely defeated by
the fonts. Searches inside the text locate very little because few
words have been successfully extracted. Improving OCR is a fine topic
for research.

http://books.google.com/books?id=B0cIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PT16#v=onepage&


The speaker is deceived three times instead of twice in this early
version of the proverb. Perhaps individuals engaged in less
self-criticism in bygone eras or were less ashamed of appearing naïve;
probably not. The earliest cite I could locate for the proverb using
the verb "to fool" also involves three rounds of deception.

Citation: 1836 August 23, Richmond Enquirer, Public Sentiment in
Virginia. Extract of a Letter from Montgomery, Page 3, Column 6,
Richmond, Virginia. (Genealogybank)

The two elections of President which have devolved upon Congress, have
sufficiently admonished us to say like the Quaker: 'Thee may fool me
once, and thee may fool me twice; but if thou foolest me the third
time, the fault is mine own.'"


The online Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs gives a cite dated 1650 with
the verb deceive and only two rounds of deception. Here is an 1857
cite in which being fooled twice is once too many.

Citation: 1857 August 29, Daily Democratic State Journal, Speech of
Jas. H. Hardy, Esq., Delivered in Sacramento, Page 1, Column 4 (Column
3 of article), California. (Genealogybank - Text is incorrectly
highlighted. Look for paragraph beginning "It is not well")

I learned an adage when I was a boy, "If I suffer a man to fool me
once, it shows he is a knave; but if I suffer him to fool me twice, it
shows that I am a fool," ...

Garson

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