essay on curiosity killed the cat

The Interesting Meaning and History of the Phrase ‘Curiosity Killed the Cat’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Curiosity killed the cat’ is a well-known phrase that is found repeatedly in English (and Anglophone) literature. The meaning of ‘curiosity killed the cat’ is easy to summarise: don’t go poking your nose into other people’s affairs, and don’t be overly inquisitive about things which don’t concern you, as it will only cause trouble.

The phrase suggests that a cat that went nosing about in something it shouldn’t have came a-cropper and died as a result.

However, the phrase began life quite differently. ‘Curiosity killed the fact’ is a surprisingly recent phrase, but ‘care killed the cat’ – a phrase with a subtly, but importantly different meaning – has a much longer, and older, pedigree.

Care Killed the Cat

‘Care killed the cat’ is found as early as 1598, in Ben Jonson’s city comedy, Every Man in His Humour . In that play, we find the line: ‘Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care’ll kill a cat, up-tails all, and a louse for the hangman.’

Shakespeare is thought to have played the part of Kno’well, the aged father in the first production of Jonson’s play, and he may have remembered Jonson’s use of ‘care killed the cat’ when writing his play Much Ado about Nothing , which is thought to have been performed the following year. In Much Ado , Claudio says, ‘What, courage man! what though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.’

In both these instances, ‘care’ means ‘worry’ or ‘sorrow’, as it often does in Shakespeare’s plays of the time (compare King Henry IV’s opening lines from 1 Henry IV : ‘So shaken as we are, so wan with care’). So the meaning is clearly different here: it is worry or sorrow that killed the cat, rather than its meddling nose. Of course, it’s possible that it’s not the cat’s care that is the cause of the trouble, but its human owner’s: in other words, worrying excessively about something may lead you to cause harm to those around you.

But this isn’t apparent from the phrase ‘care killed the cat’, and it’s impossible, some four centuries later, to know for sure what the phrase was meant to denote. Although cats were much-maligned in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, partly because of their associations with witchcraft and black magic (black cats especially, of course), they obviously had their uses when it came to ridding households of rodents and other vermin.

And it’s clear that the killing of the cat in both Jonson’s and Shakespeare’s use of the expression ‘care killed the cat’ (or ‘care will kill a cat’) is viewed as something to be avoided.

However, it’s probably more likely that the phrase referred to the cat’s actions, rather than a human’s actions upon it; and a clue to what the original phrase may have meant can be found in George Wither’s 1635 book A Collection of Emblems, Ancient and Modern , where he writes of the proverbial cat hunting mice: ‘he cannot be content to slaughter them / but hee must also playe / and Sport his woefull prisoners’ lives away’.

So, if we take ‘care’ to mean worrying and taking time fretting over something rather than just getting on and taking decisive action, then the thing that may ‘kill’ the cat is failing to kill its prey while it had the chance. And then, perhaps, being killed either out of starvation (because its dinner got away) or from being cast out by its owner, dissatisfied with its mousing skills?

Curiosity Killed the Cat

So when did ‘curiosity killed the cat’ take over as the cat-killing expression or phrase of choice – and why? It had certainly come into being by the second half of the nineteenth century: James Allan Mair’s 1873 book A handbook of proverbs: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Shakesperean, and scriptural; and family mottoes lists ‘curiosity killed the cat’ as a familiar phrase, with an ‘I.’ next to it to suggest that the phrase is Irish in origin.

This is perfectly possible, especially as the phrase seems to have really taken off in the United States, where it was perhaps introduced by Irish immigrants in the second half of the nineteenth century. The prolific short-story writer O. Henry, in his 1909 story ‘ Schools and Schools ’, wrote: ‘Curiosity can do more things than kill a cat; and if emotions, well recognized as feminine, are inimical to feline life, then jealousy would soon leave the whole world catless.’

Curiously (as it were), although the Oxford English Dictionary is keen to point out that there is no link between the English word ‘care’ and the Latin word cura (meaning ‘care’), the word ‘curiosity’ ultimately derives from the Latin cūriōsus meaning ‘full of care or pains, careful, assiduous, inquisitive’.

So here, the words ‘curious’ and ‘inquisitive’ are related to ‘full of care’, although ‘care’ here refers as much to taking care as it does to feeling grief or sorrow.

In conclusion, the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’ appears to have been a mutation of a far earlier expression, ‘care killed a cat’, meaning that excessive worry rather than inquisitiveness will lead to harm. The phrase seems to have changed in the nineteenth century, when ‘curiosity killed the cat’ became established as the more famous expression.

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10 thoughts on “The Interesting Meaning and History of the Phrase ‘Curiosity Killed the Cat’”

Fascinating. I had heard of the phrase ‘care killed the cat’, so it’s interesting to see how closely (or not) the two expressions are linked. Enjoyed this immensely

Thanks, Lynn! It was interesting delving into the history of this phrase (and the literary examples in particular).

Actually, I thought it was Poe who killed the cat…

Haha, I want to reread ‘The Black Cat’ now…

Not if you love cats! Surprisingly Poe did.

When I was young people asking intrusive – or any kind of question – might be told “Curiosity killed the cat” and give the smart rejoinder “Satisfaction brought it back” ie the cat died of curiosity, but when its question was answered it revived. There is a near rhyme there, suggesting a piece of verse. Stock replies were not uncommon – someone told that she was showing her underwear (usually a petticoat) would snap “It’s all clean and paid for…”

I might have to add a paragraph on that rejoinder – it appears to have turned up in print in the early twentieth century, though whether it was as verse I’m not sure!

\Yes the early 20th century would be right for me..

I think it fair to suggest that Schrödinger’s curiosity killed the cat!

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Did Curiosity Really Kill the Cat?

Curiosity is the best remedy for fear..

Posted September 17, 2020 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

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We are all familiar with the common proverb, “Curiosity killed the cat,” but what was the origin of that proverb, and did it really intend to suppress curiosity?

Interestingly, the original version was “Care killed the cat,” with the word “care” referring to grief or worry. In this form, the proverb first appeared in print at the end of the 16th century, first in a play by playwright Ben Johnson (in 1598), and about a year later in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing . It was still quoted in this form at the end of the 19th century, in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable . So what happened? How did “care” get replaced by “curiosity?”

As far as I can tell, nobody knows. The first known printed reference to this version was in an Irish newspaper in 1868, and it started appearing more frequently as a proverb in 1873. Be that as it may, there is no question that the cautionary expression was meant to serve as advice suggesting that it is best to mind one’s own business.

This would not have been the first time for curiosity to be discouraged. All civilizations built, at some point, walls around certain types of knowledge. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden for yielding to their curiosity and eating the forbidden fruit. The book of Ecclesiastes specifically warns that “In much wisdom , there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.” The French abbot St. Bernard Clairvaux even pronounced in the 12th century that curiosity is close to being a deadly sin: “To learn in order to know is scandalous curiosity.”

Galileo Galilei encountered the discouragement of curiosity in his interaction with the Catholic Church. When he tried to convince Pope Urban VIII that the heliocentric model, in which the Earth and all the other planets revolved around the Sun, was a correct representation of reality, the Pope retorted that irrespective of which model of planetary motion scientists were to adopt, “we cannot limit the divine power and wisdom to this way.” In other words, the Pope’s view was that the curiosity that drove Galileo to carry out his scientific research was to no avail since humans would never be able to decipher the cosmos.

Queen Victoria had similar views. In a letter she wrote to her granddaughter Princess Victoria of Hesse, she advised: “I would earnestly warn you against trying to find out the reason for and explanation of everything ... To try and find out the reason for everything is very dangerous and leads to nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction, unsettling your mind and in the end making you miserable.”

Unfortunately, attempts to suppress curiosity did not end centuries ago.

In 1937, the Nazi regime organized in Munich an exhibition they titled "Degenerate Art," of which the sole aim was to convince the public that modern art was simply a malicious attack by Jewish communists on the German people. The exhibit included works by a few of the greatest artists of the 20th century, but the exhibition catalog described the art as having been produced by “sick brains.” Similarly appalling acts against curiosity have been carried out by the Taliban, culminating with the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in the head because this young activist advocated education for girls.

Numerous incidents of book burning have also occurred throughout history, dating all the way back to the seventh century BCE, but continuing even to 1981, when the Jaffna Public Library of Sri Lanka was burned down by Sinhalese police and government-sponsored paramilitaries.

What is the lesson from all of these stories of oppression, intimidation, and assaults on curiosity? While writing my book WHY? , I coined the phrase: Curiosity is the best remedy for fear . What I mean by that is that often we are afraid of the unknown; of those things we know very little about. Becoming curious about them and making an effort to learn more usually acts to relieve that fear. The ability to be curious about almost anything you like (as long as you follow certain ethical guidelines related to privacy and research involving human subjects) is, after all, a clear manifestation of freedom.

Since curiosity in humans is not only inevitable but is also a principal driver of the desire for the acquisition of knowledge, we should all be happy that the idiom “Curiosity killed the cat” has a positive rejoinder: “But satisfaction brought it back!”

Livio, M. (2017). WHY?: What Makes Us Curious. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Livio, M. (2020). Galileo and the Science Deniers. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Mario Livio, Ph.D. is an astrophysicist, bestselling author of Galileo: And the Science Deniers and a popular speaker who has appeared on The Daily Show , 60 Minutes , and NOVA .

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curiosity killed the cat

• too much curiosity can lead to dangerous situations
• being too inquisitive can get you into trouble
• a prying behaviour can be harmful
• used to warn someone not to ask too many questions about something

Example Sentences

• When he started asking too many questions of his neighbours about their whereabouts during the weekend, they warned him that curiosity killed the cat .
• When Jane asked George where he was going at the middle of the night, he replied that  curiosity killed the cat .
• Joe was very curious about where Sarah was getting all her money from, but all she said was that  curiosity killed the cat .
• He refused to answer any of our questions regarding where he spent his vacation, saying instead “curiosity killed the cat” .
• Though he knew all about the matter, he refused to divulge it to anyone, only saying that  curiosity killed the cat .
• “Where are you going all of a sudden?” he asked. “Curiosity killed the cat” she replied.

Origin The original expression was “care killed the cat”, where care was used to denote worry or sorrow. That original expression was first recorded in 1598 in Ben Jonson’s play “Every Man in His Humour.” The current expression with “curiosity” is much newer, and the earliest record can be found in 1898 in The Galveston Daily News.

Share your opinions 9 Opinions

“…but satisfaction brought it back.” This changes the moral of the saying. Because it does encourage the prying with hopes of positive results preferably with answers. What happens when satisfaction is not achieved?

‒ Pkeshy October 28, 2021

“Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back” many people don’t actually know the second half of the idiom. It’s used to give a warning or tell someone not to be curious however when adding the rest of the idiom it shows that being curious is not always a bad thing sometimes you need to see things for yourself. Don’t blindly trust someone of something.

‒ Ghost April 14, 2021

It means that asking to many questions can get you in trouble.

‒ Parker November 13, 2020

Curiosity is not bad at all if you are trying to unravel something that will be of great importance in the long run. Where it can land someone in trouble, if it is used just to be nosy in other people’s business to satisfy one’s inquisitiveness not knowing the dangers might be associated with the reveal.

‒ Yolanda Dizon Lobo November 11, 2020

Kaykay’s opinion is valid when you have a good look at it especially with the evidence she cited. therefor I agree with her statement: “curiosity did not kill the cat”. Here’s my evidence to add: Asking questions help us learn how would it kill us? Think about everyone who has gotten into history books. Tomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Issac Newton they all had one thing in common: Curiosity

‒ Anonymous February 19, 2020

Curiosity did not kill the cat but it may have killed the mouse. Innately we all have a curiosity. Curiosity is a good thing. Look at Einstein and where his curiosity took him. The reference it bears today to mind your own business is more about the process of learning about boundaries and awareness. Be curious!

‒ KayKay February 16, 2020

I think the literal meaning means like if they were curious of something dangerous they’d get killed idk

‒ Random Student October 25, 2018

What is the literal meaning?

‒ Gerald March 27, 2018

Do you know the literal and figurative meaning of this?

‒ Maria March 2, 2018

What's on your mind?

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Curiosity Killed The Cat

Meanings of “curiosity killed the cat”.

The phrase ‘ curiosity killed the cat ’ means curiosity and trying to go to an unknown place can lead to risky, or dangerous situations. In other words, if a person becomes inquisitive about everything, he or she could find themselves caught in unfortunate situations.

Origin of “Curiosity Killed The Cat”

The phrase “curiosity killed the cat” seems to have originated as “care killed the cat” from Every Man in His Humor , a popular play by Ben Jonson, published in 1598. In the play, the phrase goes thus; “Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care’ll kill a Cat, up-tails all, and a Louse for the Hangman.”

However, it is not the standard version used these days. It was later changed to “curiosity killed the cat” by a newspaper, The Galveston Daily News, in its publication of 1898. Since then, the phrase has been used in the same version and almost the same meanings.

Examples in Literature

 Curiosity Killed The Cat Poem by Jon M. Nelson

They say Curiosity killed the cat, Well there is a story behind that. It’s not the reason that you may think, When you hear it, your heart will sink. The cat was lazy and did nothing all day, And it always seemed to be in the way. It would lie in your path and try to trip, And if you didn’t catch yourself you’d slip. It would shed its fur balls everywhere, And the house would be covered in cat hair. It was a friendly cat, don’t get me wrong, So I don’t want to make this story too long. The cat one day was in the neighbor’s yard, And it must have let down its guard. I heard barking and growling from outside, And when I checked, I’d seen my cat had died. My neighbor left his dog off of the leash, He didn’t know the furry it would unleash. It was a tragic end for my cat you see, My neighbor’s dog’s name was Curiosity.

The poem is an allegorical representation of this phrase in the shape of the story of a cat who is very lazy and sluggish. One day the neighbor’s dog kills him. The poet later finds out that the dog’s name is Curiosity. That is why the poem has been titled with this phrase, showing its metaphorical representation.

 Curiosity by Alistair Reid

“may have killed the cat; more likely the cat was just unlucky, or else curious to see what death was like, having no cause to go on licking paws, or fathering litter on litter of kittens, predictably.”

These lines represent the death of a cat to highlight this phrase, saying that it might be the neighbor who killed the cat, or the cat was not so lucky to save himself. It, however, seems there is no cause for the death of the cat. It also seems that there are two plausible versions: one of licking paws and the other of fathering a litter of kittens. Both could be true. The phrase is presented with confusing meanings and good use of ambiguity .

 Curiosity Killed the Cat by Little River Band

Right now , right now You keep this flame I have alight in me And with this cat, it’s curiosity That keeps me hanging on night and day Surprisingly, again I hear you say Guess what, guess what, curiosity killed the cat I’m telling you I know where it’s at Love is everywhere to be found Open your eyes and look around.”

The first stanza talks about the singer’s affirmation that he has the same fire that the cat has. This is the fire of curiosity that keeps him hanging out day and night. However, he also knows that curiosity killed the cat but he is not as curious as to the cat, for he knows that love is omnipresent, and he does not need to be curious. Therefore, it is a direct meaning of the phrase to show that the speaker knows it.

Curiosity Killed the Cat by Sierra Harimann

This novel by Sierra Harimann presents the story of a girl, Hannah, who moves into a new house with her father and other siblings. The house is located near a graveyard where she finds a cat. But, despite her incredulous nature, she finds the cat of her stepsister, Madison, missing, which later bothers her at night. Despite knowing this phrase, Hannah dares not to kill that cat, for, after all, it belongs to her sister. The phrase is used as a metaphor with a direct meaning.

Example in Sentences

Example #1: “Baron was always curious about the on-goings of his neighbor’s life until the neighbor herself came and told her that “curiosity killed the cat.”

Example #2: “With all her inquisitive questions in the class, everyone used to tease Harriet about how curiosity killed the cat.”

Example #3: “Nathan always had his nose in adventures and mysteries . He was always full of doubts and left no stone unturned in unveiling the truth. His mother warned him that curiosity killed the cat.”

Example #4: “Rose learnt it through the hard way that “curiosity killed the cat,” and stopped meddling in other people’s affairs.”

Example #5: “They were two curious siblings and everyone warned them how curiosity killed the cat.”

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'Curiosity Killed the Cat'

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Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories .

Our weekly program is about the words, expressions and idioms we use in American English.

In any language, idioms can be difficult. Sometimes, you need to know a lot of ‘cultural backstory’ -- the meaning behind the words -- to understand these sayings. And using them the right way can cause problems for English learners.

But do not worry. Even people who grew up in the United States speaking English have problems with some of these idioms.

On another Words and Their Stories , we told how the idiom "blood is thicker than water" is misunderstood. This week we talk about another expression Americans usually get wrong.

That expression is: Curiosity killed the cat .

I know. It does not sound very nice. But trust me. It’s not that bad.

First, let's start with the word “curious.”

The word curious means to want to know things you don't know; to investigate. So to be curious is not a bad thing. Adults and teachers often praise children with curious minds for asking questions -- sometimes a lot of questions!

Curious people can be very interesting. They want to know more about the world around them. Another way of saying curious is inquisitive . The verb "inquire" means to ask one or more questions.

However, prying is a form of curiosity but not in a good way. Someone who is said to be prying into other people’s business wants to know about things that do not concern them. And often prying is an effort to find out secrets by looking for them in improper ways.

We often use it this way. We say to someone, “Look, I don’t mean to pry …” and then we go ahead and pry by asking them a personal question that is none of our business.

Sometimes when we pry we are simply concerned about someone. But it can still start trouble. So, as we said, curiosity is usually a good thing. But it can also put you in harm's way .

"Curiosity killed the cat" is an idiom we use to warn people. Being curious can get you into trouble. We often use this expression when others ask prying questions.

People asking such questions are trying to find out something that is none of their business. They are being nosy .

Okay, so now, let's hear an example of a nosy person asking prying questions by putting their nose where it does not belong.

So, last night I saw Tom out with a woman and it wasn’t Jessica!

Really? They haven’t broke up, have they?

I don’t think so. You know, I’m having lunch with Jessica tomorrow. Maybe I’ll ask her.

I wouldn’t do that if I were you.

Why? Aren’t you curious?

A little. But it’s not a good idea to stick your nose into other people's business .

I’m not being nosy. I’m just … curious.

Well, you know what they say, “Curiosity killed the cat.” Just leave it alone.

Ahh … maybe you’re right.

Here’s the problem. “Curiosity killed the cat" is only part of the expression. The whole idiom goes like this: "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."

That last part really changes the meaning. The cat gets to live. Curiosity does not kill it. So, we use the first half of the saying as a warning: Be careful of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation! But the second part -- "satisfaction brought it back" -- shows that the risk might be worth it.

Not many English speakers know that in the original idiom the cat survives. But now you do! In the end, the way most Americans use the idiom is as a warning and they simply say "curiosity killed the cat."

And that's the end of Words and Their Stories for this week.

I'm Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. The song at the end is The Cure singing “Love Cats.”

We missed you hissed the lovecats We missed you hissed the lovecats

We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully Wonderfully pretty!

Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

idiom – n. an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own

inquisitive – adj. tending to ask questions : having a desire to know or learn more

pry – v. to try to find out about other people's private lives

nosy – adj. wanting to know about other people's lives, problems, etc.

Is Blood Thicker Than Water?

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Fishing for More Than Fish

The meaning and origin of the expression: Curiosity killed the cat

Curiosity killed the cat

What's the meaning of the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'.

Inquisitiveness can lead one into dangerous situations.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat'?

That form of the expression is first recorded in the English playwright Ben Jonson's play Every Man in His Humour , 1598:

" Helter skelter , hang sorrow, care'll kill a Cat, up-tails all, and a Louse for the Hangman."

The play was one of the Tudor humours comedies, in which each major character is assigned a particular 'humour' or trait. The play is thought to have been performed in 1598 by The Lord Chamberlain's Men , a troupe of actors including William Shakespeare and William Kempe . Shakespeare was no slouch when it came to appropriating a memorable line and it crops up the following year in Much Ado About Nothing :

"What, courage man! what though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care."

The proverbial expression 'curiosity killed the cat', which is usually used when attempting to stop someone asking unwanted questions, is much more recent. The earlier form was still in use in 1898, when it was defined in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable :

"Care killed the Cat. It is said that a cat has nine lives, but care would wear them all out."

Curiosity hasn't received a good press over the centuries. Saint Augustine wrote in Confessions , AD 397, that, in the aeons before creating heaven and earth, God "fashioned hell for the inquisitive". John Clarke, in Paroemiologia , 1639 suggested that "He that pryeth into every cloud may be struck with a thunderbolt". In Don Juan , Lord Byron called curiosity "that low vice". That bad opinion, and the fact that cats are notoriously inquisitive, led to the source of their demise being changed from 'care' to 'curiosity'.

The earliest version that I have found of the precise current form of the proverb in print is from The Galveston Daily News , 1898:

It is said that once "curiosity killed a Thomas cat." [ Thomas cat is a jokey form of tom cat, that is, a male cat. ]

The occasional variant to 'curiosity killed the cat' is the addition of 'satisfaction brought it back'. I've not been able to trace the source of this odd addition. The first citation of it that I've found in print is from the Pennsylvania newspaper The Titusville Herald , December 1912:

You will find greater values here. We are told: "Curiosity killed the cat, But satisfaction brought it back."

See also: the List of Proverbs .

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

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by Alastair Reid

Curiosity - Alastair Reid

may have killed the cat. More likely, the cat was just unlucky, or else curious to see what death was like, having no cause to go on licking paws, or fathering litter on litter of kittens, predictably.

Nevertheless, to be curious is dangerous enough. To distrust what is always said, what seems, to ask odd questions, interfere in dreams, smell rats, leave home, have hunches, does not endear cats to those doggy circles where well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches are the order of things, and where prevails much wagging of incurious heads and tails.

Face it. Curiosity will not cause us to die – only lack of it will. Never to want to see the other side of the hill or that improbable country where living is an idyll (although a probable hell) would kill us all. Only the curious have if they live a tale worth telling at all.

Dogs say cats love too much, are irresponsible, are dangerous, marry too many wives, desert their children, chill all dinner tables with tales of their nine lives. Well, they are lucky. Let them be nine-lived and contradictory, curious enough to change, prepared to pay the cat-price, which is to die and die again and again, each time with no less pain. A cat-minority of one is all that can be counted on to tell the truth; and what cats have to tell on each return from hell is this: that dying is what the living do, that dying is what the loving do, and that dead dogs are those who never know that dying is what, to live, each has to do.

from Weathering: Poems and Translations (Canongate, 1978), © Alastair Reid 1978, used by permission of the author.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Novel — Curiosity Killed the Cat’ Proved in Lucious and Pentheus Stories

Curiosity Killed The Cat' Proved in Lucious and Pentheus Stories

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Published: Jul 17, 2018

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. » Expansion of Ideas » Curiosity Killed the Cat

Expansion of an Idea – “Curiosity Killed the Cat” for Students / Teachers / Parents

Explore the idea behind the age-old proverb, “Curiosity Killed the Cat.” This saying serves as a reminder to balance our curiosity with caution to avoid unintended consequences.

While curiosity is an essential trait that has led to numerous discoveries and innovations, it can also lead to trouble if not approached with a balanced mindset. The proverb encourages us to think before we act, to pause and assess the potential risks before we leap into the unknown.

By maintaining a balanced approach to curiosity, we can avoid the negative consequences that can come from excessive exploration or recklessness. Instead, we can channel our curiosity in productive ways that benefit ourselves and society as a whole.

Whether you are a lifelong learner, a curious adventurer, or simply looking to improve your decision-making skills, our website is the perfect resource to expand your understanding of the proverb “Curiosity Killed the Cat.” Join us on this journey of discovery and learn to balance your curiosity with caution to achieve greater success and happiness in life.

• Curiosity Killed the Cat

The proverb “Curiosity killed the cat” is a warning about the dangers of being too inquisitive or nosy. The origins of the proverb are unclear, but it has been used for centuries to caution against the perils of excessive curiosity.

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