you can't judge a book by its cover

you can't judge a book by its cover

English

Alternative forms

• you can’t tell a book by its cover
• don’t judge a book by its cover

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Proverb

you can't judge a book by its cover

1. (idiomatic, figuratively) It is not possible to make reliable judgments about things or people by considering external appearances alone.

Synonyms

• clothes don't make the man
• the cowl does not make the monk
• all that glitters is not gold
• looks can be deceiving
• appearances are deceptive

Antonyms

• clothes maketh the man
• fine feathers make fine birds

Translations

it is not possible to judge things by external appearances alone

Arabic: لَا تَحْكُم عَلَى كِتَابِ مِِنْ غِلَافِهِ‎ (lā taḥkum ʿalā kitābi miin ḡilāfihi) Chinese: Mandarin: 人不可貌相 (zh) (bùyào yǐmàoqǔrén) Danish: sku ikke hunden på hårene Finnish: ei ole koiraa karvoihin katsominen (fi), moni kakku päältä kaunis (fi) French: l'habit ne fait pas le moine (fr) Greek: τα φαινόμενα απατούν (ta fainómena apatoún), το ράσο δεν κάνει τον παπά (to ráso den kánei ton papá) Hebrew: אַל תִּסְתַּכֵּל בַּקַּנְקַן אֶלָּא בַמֶּה שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ‎ (he) (ál tistakél baqanqán, éla bamé sheyésh bó) Hindi: जाति ना पूछो साधु की; पूछ लीजिए ज्ञान (jāti nā pūcho sādhu kī; pūch lījie gyān) Hungarian: ne a borító alapján ítéld meg a könyvet Icelandic: þú getur ekki rannsakað hund eftir hárinu Irish: go minic bíonn croí geal i gcraiceann donn Italian: l'abito non fa il monaco, non giudicare un libro dalla copertina, non giudicare dalle apparenze Japanese: 看板に偽りなし (kanban ni itsuwari nashi) Lithuanian: nespręsk apie knygą iš viršelio Norwegian: Bokmål: man kan ikke dømme boken etter omslaget, man skal aldri skue hunden på hårene (no) Polish: nie oceniaj książki po okładce Portuguese: não se pode julgar um livro pela capa Romanian: nu haina îl face pe om Russian: не суди́ о кни́ге по обло́жке (ne sudí o kníge po oblóžke) Scottish Gaelic: 's tric a bhios cridhe gheal ann an seiche dhonn Serbo-Croatian: ne sudi knjizi po koricama Slovene: ne sodi knjige po platnicah Spanish: el hábito no hace al monje Swedish: man skall inte döma hunden efter håren , man ska inte döma boken efter omslaget Tagalog: mapanlinlang ang panlabas na anyo Turkish: hayvanın alacası dışında, insanın alacası içinde Urdu: ذات نہ پوچھو سادھو کی؛ پوچھ لیجئے علم‎ (zāt nā pūcho sādhu kī; pūch lījie ilm)