A bad custom is like a good cake, better broken than kept.
Meaning: Harmful habits deteriorate further if preserved, but improve immediately when deliberately destroyed.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Morality
- It is as good to be in the dark as without light. — Darkness without awareness of it equals blindness; ignorance becomes comfortable when une…
- A dark man's a jewel in a fair woman's eye. — Beauty standards flip based on contrast; what seems ordinary gains value through its rari…
- Debt is the worst kind of poverty. — Owing money enslaves you to creditors more severely than lacking wealth alone ever could.
- A good dog deserves a good bone. — Faithful service and loyalty merit worthy rewards and recognition.
- It's a bad dog that deserves not a crust. — Even those with flaws deserve basic sustenance and kindness rather than complete abandonm…
- Better an empty house than a bad tenant. — An absent home causes less damage than one inhabited by someone destructive or unreliable.
From our idioms
- donkey's ears — A very long time; ages.
- soft underbelly — A point of vulnerability or weakness in something otherwise strong or well-defended.
- long fuse — A personality trait of being slow to anger; patience before losing one's temper.