a fool and his money are soon parted

• a fool and his money
• a fool and his money are easily parted

First appears c. 1587 in the publication Defense of the Government of the Church of England as If they pay a penie or two pence more for the reddinesse of them..let them looke to that, a foole and his money is soone parted. An earlier 1573 quote by Thomas Tusser reads "A foole and his money be soone at debate: which after with sorow repents him too late."

a fool and his money are soon parted

1. It is easy to obtain money from foolish people.
2. It is difficult or unlikely that careless and irresponsible individuals will maintain their hold on acquired wealth.

• nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people
• there's a sucker born every minute

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 103.
• John Simpson, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, 1983, Oxford University Press. →ISBN, p. 84