Why do we say "A good man is hard to find"?

Meaning:

It is not easy to find decent human beings/qualified people

Background:

This phrase appears to have been coined by Eddie Green as the title of his 1918 song A Good Man Is Hard To Find.

A good man is hard to find
You always get the other kind
Just when you think that he is your pal
You look for him and find him fooling 'round some other gal
Then you rave, you even crave
To see him laying in his grave
So, if your man is nice, take my advice and hug him in the morning, kiss him ev'ry night,
Give him plenty lovin', treat him right
For a good man nowadays is hard to find, a good man nowadays is hard to find.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is also the title of a 1953 story by Flannery O'Connor; and the title of her 1955 short story collection.

The sentiment dates back much earlier. For example in the King James Bible version of the Book of Micah, 7:2: "The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net."

More expressions and their source

Challenge yourself with BookBrowse Wordplays