kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
Meaning: To destroy a source of profit out of greed.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Raising the rent that much would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
Category: Animals
Origin: From Aesop's fable, in which a farmer kills his goose to get all its golden eggs at once and finds nothing inside.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Tuer la poule aux œufs d'or — literally: To kill the hen that lays the golden eggs
More idioms — Animals
- with one's tail between one's legs — Humiliated and defeated.
- a workhorse — A person or machine that does a large amount of hard, reliable work.
- bite the hand that feeds you — To harm or insult someone who helps you.
- in two shakes of a lamb's tail — Very quickly.
- the bee's knees — Something or someone excellent.
- at a snail's pace — Very slowly.
More English idioms
- have a foot in both camps — To be involved with two opposing sides at once.
- deaf as a post — Completely deaf.
- ugly as sin — Very ugly.
- terra firma — Solid ground, as opposed to the sea or the air.
- the sandman is coming — It's time to sleep; someone is getting sleepy.
- soaked to the skin — Completely wet.
From our tongue twisters
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
- Unique New York. — Three words that jam the 'y/n/k' sequence together — repeat it and it collapses into 'you…
- Pad kid poured curd pulled cod. — Alternating repetition — the consonants swap at the start of every other word, which is w…