Good men and true

Meaning

Dependable men, of rank and honour. The phrase was adapted later to 'twelve good men and true', indicating the twelve (originally all men, now both sexes) of a criminal jury.

Origin

From Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, 1599:

DOGBERRY: Are you good men and true?
VERGES: Yea, or else it were pity but they should suffer salvation, body and soul.

See other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.