the.com/curiosity killed the cat
The only proverb that shames you for wanting to learn things.
means A warning that poking your nose into things too eagerly can get you hurt — so maybe don't pull that thread.
from The saying started life in the 1500s as 'care killed the cat,' with 'care' meaning worry or sorrow — the idea being that even a cat with its famous nine lives couldn't survive constant fretting. By the late 1800s 'care' had drifted into 'curiosity,' reshaping it from a warning about anxiety into a warning about nosiness. The reassuring tail-end, 'but satisfaction brought it back,' is a later addition that softens the original scolding.
- the sequel
- satisfaction brought it back, nobody quotes that part
- original meaning
- care killed the cat, worry not wonder
- first recorded
- 1898, as care killed the cat earlier
- real lesson
- curiosity is risky, but incuriosity is worse