kill with kindness

Idioms  

1. Overwhelm or harm someone with mistaken or excessive benevolence. For example, Aunt Mary constantly sends Jane chocolates and cake and other goodies, even though she's been told Jane's on a diet—nothing like killing with kindness. This expression originated as kill with kindness as fond apes do their young (presumably crushing them to death in a hug) and was a proverb by the mid-1500s.

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Example Sentences

But for Kleinzahler, who swallows the persona in one gulp, Keillor is prepared to kill with kindness.

From The Guardian • Apr. 10, 2011

You don't intend to do it but sometimes you can kill with kindness and be too good in feeding your trees if you don't understand how much fertilization the tree needs.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fifth Annual Meeting Evansville, Indiana, August 20 and 21, 1914 by Northern Nut Growers Association