rest on one's laurels

Example: “One gold medal is wonderful, but don't rest on your laurels.”

Origin: Traces to ancient Greece, where the laurel tree was sacred to Apollo and its woven leaves formed the wreaths awarded to victors at the Pythian Games, held every four years in Apollo's honor. Rome later adopted the same symbolism for its own military and civic honors, and "laurels" became a lasting shorthand across Western culture for victory, achievement, and earned recognition generally. The specific English idiom "rest on one's laurels" doesn't appear until 1831, considerably later than the classical imagery behind it, and it carries a notably more critical edge than the original: rather than simply honoring a past achievement, it describes someone who has stopped striving entirely, coasting on old accomplishments rather than continuing to earn new ones.