Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence

“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence” is Mr. Jaggers’s compact rule for separating appearance from proof. Addressed to Pip, it turns a specific dispute into a broader statement of the evidentiary discipline that Jaggers says has governed his dealings with him.

The Rule in Context

Pip argues that something “looked so like it,” but Jaggers rejects resemblance as evidence. He calls the supposed proof “Not a particle of evidence” and tells Pip to judge by what can be established, not by what appearances suggest. The contrast is sharpened by the practical form of the maxim: its balanced commands make visual impression the rejected standard and evidence the required one.

Jaggers’s Professional Principle

The exchange follows Pip’s verification of his information. When Pip says he has nothing more to add, Jaggers connects the rule to his own conduct: now that Magwitch has disclosed himself in New South Wales, Pip should understand that Jaggers has adhered throughout their communications to “the strict line of fact.” The maxim therefore functions not only as advice to Pip but as Jaggers’s defense of his professional method—careful about what he can assert, and unwilling to let an appearance stand in for proof.

Significance

The phrase sets evidentiary certainty against impression at a moment when Pip is trying to make sense of Magwitch’s disclosure. Its force lies in its restraint: it does not claim that appearances are meaningless, only that they cannot establish a fact on their own. Jaggers’s insistence also gives the maxim a double edge. It articulates a sound principle of judgment while emphasizing the limits of what he has communicated; his account, he maintains, has stayed within what he could state as fact.