Quick answer
Believing everything is not innocence, it is exposure. The prudent man's alternative is not suspicion but attention to where he is walking.
Read both lines
The simple person in this book is teachable and unformed, and this verse names the vulnerability that comes with that: no filter. What is striking is the second line's answer. It does not say the prudent doubts every word, which would be its own foolishness. It says he considers his steps, moving the check from the claim to the consequence, asking not merely whether something is true but where acting on it would put him. That is a more usable discipline than skepticism, and it pairs directly with verse 12's warning about roads that seem right.
Related: Proverbs 14:12 · Proverbs 22:3 · Proverbs 4:26
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.