The expression finds its first recorded mention in the English playwright Ben Jonson’s play Every Man in His Humour, 1598: By ‘care’ the person who coined the expression meant ‘worry/sorrow’ rather than ‘take care of/look after’. The phrase ‘curiosity’ is developed from an older phrase, ‘care killed the cat’. In Saint Augustine’s ‘Confessions’ written way back in AD 397 it is written that eons before creating heaven and earth, God “fashioned hell for the inquisitive”. The word ‘curious’ has never been a crowd favorite. The expression even while mentioning ‘curiosity’ is aimed at the prying nature of people and how it can lead to harm, either for themselves or others. The difference between curiosity and prying needs to be taken into consideration. Think of the expression as a way to stop people from thinking about or exploring potentially risky situations that they know little about. The expression is used to warn people about the dangers of unnecessary investigation and dangerous situations. The phrase is used to warn them that their curiosity and inquisitiveness can have a harmful result and can put people in dangerous situations. ‘Curiosity Killed The Cat’ is an expression used as a warning for someone who is overly curious. Meaning Behind ‘Curiosity Killed The Cat’ Oh, and the phrase isn’t as violent as it appears to be – after all, cats do have nine lives. This commonly used phrase requires an understanding of the context of when it should be used. Nevertheless, the citation does appear to be the first use of the proverb 'let sleeping dogs lie' in print.What Does ‘Curiosity Killed The Cat’ Mean?Įveryone has heard the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’ – but what does it mean? What is the significance of this particular phrase? Let’s take a look. 'Daft' seems to be used to mean 'insane' and the 'hound' apparently alludes to a stricken sailing ship. The story is, to current sensibilities, pretty much bonkers. Let sleeping dogs lie, said the daft man, when he saw the dead hound before him. In December 1822 The London Magazine published a fanciful mariner's yarn entitled The Second Tale of Allan Lorburne, which included: To get to the current wording of the proverb we have to move to the 19th century. Sir Robert may have been in the habit of advising caution in political policy but, as far as the evidence shows, he didn't coin or even use the expression 'let sleeping dogs lie'. Of course, he may have repeated the form of the proverb printed earlier by Heywood. The expression appears nowhere in any of Walpole's published writings and, as far as I can tell, there is no record of his ever uttering it. The reason for that attribution is never explained and doesn't appear to be based on any evidence. It is so closely associated with him as to have been the source of a later cartoon. 'Let sleeping dogs lie' is frequently associated with or even attributed to Walpole and the proverb is many times mentioned in print as being his motto. The cautionary phrase was well enough known by the 16th century for it to have been included as a proverb in John Heywood's definitive A Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:Īt this point I ought to mention the 18th century British politician Sir Robert Walpole. By the time it became established as a proverb its meaning had 'leave well alone', or as we might have it in the 21st century, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". The expression may have started as a warning about the risk of waking a potentially dangerous animal, but it later turned metaphorical. "It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake." Geoffrey Chaucer was one of the first to put this notion into print, in Troilus and Criseyde, circa 1380, although the belief itself may well be much older: 'Let sleeping dogs lie' derives from the long-standing observation that dogs are often unpredictable when they are suddenly disturbed. What's the origin of the phrase 'Let sleeping dogs lie'?