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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

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

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

From Seattle Times • Aug. 14, 2022

Those sentiments might suggest that Americans would prefer the government to leave well enough alone.

From New York Times • Aug. 27, 2019

As usual, though, the higher-ups couldn’t leave well enough alone, and one afternoon an Army dentist was choppered in to check our teeth and do minor repair work.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien