NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK Definition & Meaning

Never give a sucker an even break

Don't hesitate to take advantage of a fool.

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Notes

This saying served as the title for one of the films of the comedian W. C. Fields .

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Idioms and Phrases

Don't allow a person who's easily duped a fair chance, as in He's always trying to give out expired coupons for his store, firmly believing in never giving a sucker an even break . Probably a direct quotation, it has been attributed to showman P. T. Barnum (responsible for the oft-quoted “There's a sucker born every minute”); and comedian W. C. Fields (who popularized it in one of his films); and theater manager Edward Francis Albee, the most probable of the three. [ Slang ; early 1900s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Fields taught 76 years ago: Never give a sucker an even break.

From

So the phrase "never give a sucker an even break", which is a premise that has always made bowlers carry on when perhaps a rest from injury might be more advisable, would not apply.

From

Never give a sucker an even break, said WC Fields, but that is what Chris Tremlett's back and hamstring niggle has done with Bresnan.

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Never give a sucker an even break, 'cause it's dog eat dog all along the line.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Never give a sucker an even break," "All horse players die broke," "How to live with women: Don't."

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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