honor among thieves

• honour among thieves

From Plato.

honor among thieves (uncountable)

1. Trustworthiness within a group that is not considered trustworthy by outsiders.
   • 2000, Robert Sobel, The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market, →ISBN, page 4:

     While a corrupt Chuch and untrustworthy nobles and kings scraped for power, businessmen in Italy honored pledges of businessmen from England and Scandinavia. This trust (some have called it honor among thieves) is still a hallmark of modern brokerage.

   • 2003, Tony Hillerman, The Sinister Pig, →ISBN, page 2:

     That sounds odd here in Washington these days, but some of the old-timers still like to pretend there is honor alive among the political thieves.

   • 2011, Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time, →ISBN, page 281:

     To cripple another person intentionally is to violate the same kind of code as the legendary honor among thieves. More linebackers than thieves believe this, but when it comes to politics — to a 28-year career of cheap shots, lies and thievery — there is no man in America who should understand what is happening to him now better than Richard Milhous Nixon.

• there is no honor among thieves

• set a thief to catch a thief