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• Leave well enough alone
  Leave well enough alone

  If things are going tolerably well, leave them alone; your efforts to improve the situation may make things worse.
• leave well enough alone
  leave well enough alone

  Also, let well enough alone. Do not try to change something lest you make it worse. For example, This recipe has turned out fine in the past, so leave well enough alone. The idea behind this expression dates from ancient Greek times, specifically Aesop's fable about a fox who refused a hedgehog's offer to take out its ticks lest, by removing those that are full, other hungry ones will replace them. Put as let well alone from the early 1700s, it was first recorded as let well enough alone in 1827. Also see let sleeping dogs lie.

Leave well enough alone

Cultural  

1. If things are going tolerably well, leave them alone; your efforts to improve the situation may make things worse.

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leave well enough alone Idioms  

1. Also, let well enough alone. Do not try to change something lest you make it worse. For example, This recipe has turned out fine in the past, so leave well enough alone. The idea behind this expression dates from ancient Greek times, specifically Aesop's fable about a fox who refused a hedgehog's offer to take out its ticks lest, by removing those that are full, other hungry ones will replace them. Put as let well alone from the early 1700s, it was first recorded as let well enough alone in 1827. Also see let sleeping dogs lie.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Leave well enough alone leave well enough alone

A: I always say: Leave well enough alone.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2017

She hears a whisper in her head: Leave well enough alone.

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline

It all started the moment I broke the cardinal rule of the Franklin household: Leave well enough alone.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

Leave well enough alone, I say, and accept the status quo.

From Lord Stranleigh Abroad by Robert Barr

In the days, weeks and months leading up to the release of “Michael,” the one question that loitered at the top of my mind was why Jackson’s estate wasn’t content to leave well enough alone.

From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026

Just because your ownership provided you with a $1.35-billion rotation does not guarantee that you will leave well enough alone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2025

I understand why you’re thinking you should leave well enough alone now that there’s no immediate conflict to resolve.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2023

But of course, I can never leave well enough alone so I added several twists of my own.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2022

Mr. van Daan decided to leave well enough alone, though he did note the next morning that Peter’s bed had been slept in.

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank