He is called clever who cheats and plunders his friend.
He is called clever who cheats and plunders his friend.
Meaning in plain English
Calling someone clever can hide the harm of exploiting a friend. Skill in obtaining an advantage does not make deception admirable or fair.
Example
A buyer boasts about concealing a known defect when selling equipment to a friend. Others refuse to praise the higher price as a clever deal.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The saying describes a disturbing choice of praise: the person who betrays a friend is treated as clever. Its critical reading asks what a community rewards and what that praise overlooks. An efficient trick may still damage trust and impose a loss on someone who relied on the relationship. Evaluate the method and its effects as well as the result. The proverb can expose admiration for successful wrongdoing without asserting that all cleverness is dishonest or that every advantageous agreement is exploitation.
When to use it
Use it to question praise that ignores how an advantage was obtained.
Keep in mind
A favourable outcome alone does not prove deception. Identify the misleading act or broken obligation before accusing someone.
Edsverb editorial interpretation · agent reviewed · 2026-10-05. This explains the saying; it does not establish its historical origin.
- Source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857)
Printed page 21; French section, paragraph 417; source wording: Il est dit habile, qui fraude ami et pile.
Read the original context ↗ - Attribution confidence
- traditional · historical anthology
Preserved as printed; independently unverified. - Historical coordinate
- Undated
No reliable date supplied by the collection. - Rights & edition
- Public domain (United States)
Translations and rights may differ elsewhere.
Provenance and licences ↗
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