I heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” many times growing up. I always understood its meaning that someone can be either more or less than what they appear on the surface, but never had it proven to be true in my daily life until recently.
The phrase means that you shouldn’t judge someone based on first impressions. If you were to pick up a book with a boring dusty cover, you probably wouldn’t want to read the book. However, the book might actually be very good. The opposite is also true: if you see a book with a well-drawn and colored picture on the front, it might seem interesting at first. This does not mean that the book is interesting, though. It could be one of the most boring and poorly written stories you have ever read.
The same is true for people, so you should not judge someone based on first impressions. However, this does not mean that making a good first impression is not important. This has been true for me as well. For example, there was someone that I knew from around first grade, but never took the time to get to know better, even though we had all the same classes every year. I dismissed her as being shallow simply because she was popular. However, last year I had the opportunity to talk to her more, even though it was only for a few minutes. I realized that we have many things in common; more than appear at first glance. This is a good example in everyday life of the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”.
The same can also be true in literature. At first, a particular character may seem to be good, but at the end of the book are revealed to be bad. The reverse can also be true, though more rarely (such as Snape in the “Harry Potter” books and movies).
This phrase teaches us to try to take many things into account and get to know someone before dismissing them, trusting them, or spreading rumors.
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