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

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

From Seattle Times • Aug. 14, 2022

But Hill couldn't leave well enough alone, probably because, as a teacher at Yale, he had to defend his scholarly integrity as well as that of Shultz, who was by then a "professor" at Stanford.

From Salon • May 8, 2021

In a statement, they seemed to suggest they would leave well enough alone — for now, at least.

From New York Times • Nov. 21, 2020

And, most essentially, there’s a would-be detective who’s out of his depth but can’t leave well enough alone.

From Washington Post • Jun. 12, 2019

“I wouldn’t leave well enough alone, though,” G’ma continues.

From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone