kill the goose that lays the golden egg(s)

kill the goose that lays the golden egg(s)

To ruin or destroy something that brings one wealth. Firing the programmer who created your most successful app is like killing the goose that lays the golden egg.See also: golden, goose, kill, lay, that

Kill the goose that lays the golden egg(s).

Prov. To destroy something that is profitable to you. Fred's wife knew he wasn't happy in his job, even though it paid well; still, she felt that advising him to leave it would be killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.See also: egg, golden, goose, kill, lay, that

kill the goose that lays the golden eggs

Destroy a source of riches through stupidity or greed, as in If he never gives his loyal customers a break on some items in his store, he'll kill the goose that lays the golden eggs . This expression, already a proverb in the late 1400s, alludes to Aesop's fable about a farmer whose goose lays one golden egg a day, and who kills the goose in the mistaken belief that he'll get all the eggs at once. See also: egg, golden, goose, kill, lay, that

kill the goose that lays the golden egg

or

kill the golden goose

If someone or something kills the goose that lays the golden egg or kills the golden goose, they do something which results in an important source of money being stopped or very much reduced. Most people visiting this area do so because of the beautiful countryside. Spoil that, and you'd be killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Everyone wants the business here. They want to keep the clients happy. Nobody wants to be the one to kill the golden goose. Note: You can describe an important source of money as a golden goose, especially when it is in danger of being stopped or very much reduced. It was alleged in court that Jakes had treated Whittaker as a `golden goose'. The days when the manufacturing industry was a golden goose are long gone. Note: This expression comes from Aesop's fable (= traditional story, usually with a moral) about a peasant who owned a goose which laid golden eggs. The peasant was so eager to become rich that he cut the bird open, hoping that he would be able to get all the eggs at once. See also: egg, golden, goose, kill, lay, that

kill the goose that lays the golden egg(s)

destroy a reliable and valuable source of income. One of Aesop's fables tells the tale of a man who owned a miraculous goose that laid eggs of gold. However, he grew dissatisfied with its production of just one egg a day and killed it in the deluded expectation of finding a large quantity of gold inside it. For brevity's sake, the expression is often shortened (presumably by those unaware of its origin) to kill the golden goose . 1999 New York Times Change is needed in the nation's drug policies…But we need to address the problem carefully in a way that doesn't kill the goose that lays the golden egg. See also: egg, golden, goose, kill, lay, that

kill the goose that lays the golden eggs

Destroy a source of wealth through greed, neglect, or stupidity. This term refers to Aesop’s fable about a farmer whose goose suddenly begins to lay eggs of gold, one at a time. Wanting to get all the eggs at once, the farmer kills the goose, only to find that he has lost the source of golden eggs. An English proverb from the fifteenth century on, it was widely applied to numerous situations in the nineteenth century. Thoreau’s version was, “Every fowl lays golden eggs for him who can find them” (Autumn, 1860).See also: egg, golden, goose, kill, lay, that