change horses in midstream, don't
Idioms
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Also, don't swap horses in midstream. It's unwise to alter methods or choose new leaders during a crisis, as in I don't hold with getting a new manager right now—let's not swap horses in midstream. This expression was popularized (although not originated) by Abraham Lincoln in a speech in 1864 when he discovered that the National Union League was supporting him for a second term as President.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
