Periculosum est credere et non credere.
(Phaedrus 3.10.1)

pron = peh-rih-koo-LOH-soom ehst KRAY-deh-reh eht nohn KRAY-deh-reh.

It is dangerous to trust and it is dangerous not to trust.

Comment: First a distinction. The Latin verb "credere" is often translated as "to believe" as well as "to trust". I am using the second meaning exclusively for distinctions that I draw for myself, which you, the reader, may not adhere to. In short, I see it like this. Belief is required when there is no evidence at all to accept a thing, ,and is often pressed on the individual under coercion. Religious belief, for instance, is often demanded under threat of eternal damnation: believe or burn.

Trust requires a relationship, and as such, bears with it some evidence. The evidence is experience over time with the person whom one chooses to trust.

Someone may be able to wield enough coercion to threaten me into belief, but there is no threat strong enough to elicit and evoke in me trust. Conversely, anyone who attempts to coerce me to believe simultaneously insures that he/she cannot be trusted.

With that distinction, the proverb bears a powerful wisdom. Trusting is dangerous because we allow the person that we have a relationship with access to our lives, our emotions, our bank accounts, our reputations, etc. As no human being is a static being, that openness at any given point may end in pain or destruction. It is a dangerous risk to open one's life to another, to risk it all, so to speak. Such trust should be offered cautiously and probably rarely.

Not trusting is dangerous. If we choose never to trust, we close off our lives to others, and yet we are social creatures. To be in dialogue with others requires some opening of ourselves, or else we are simply insincere and are not long to be trusted by others. Not to trust risks sealing ourselves off from the humanity that we share with others. There are times when we should not trust. Choosing not to trust, though, is a difficult choice, and should be done so with a great deal of reflection and clarity.

Living an authentic human life is dangerous and quite an adventure.