Lt. Col. Eugene K. Bird
“When a man has no reason to trust himself, he trusts in luck.”
Chap. 11, "The Fat Man"
Dialogue between the characters Kasper Gutman (the "fat man") and Sam Spade.
Source: The Maltese Falcon (1930)
Context: "We begin well, sir," the fat man purred … "I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink too much it's because he's not to be trusted when he does. … Well, sir, here's to plain speaking and clear understanding. … You're a close-mouthed man?"
Spade shook his head. "I like to talk."
"Better and better!" the fat man exclaimed. "I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice."
“Never trust a man who reads only one book.”
Source: Purity of Blood
“Shall we relieve a man, that trusts when he needs not?”
Tawney's Case (1703), 2 Raym. 1013.
Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters and Journals http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10202/pg10202.html (1896).
In Search of the Miraculous (1949)
Context: In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him. <!-- Ch. 11, p. 288
