Curiosity Killed the Cat
"A warning that being too inquisitive can lead to trouble."
The proverb didn't start out about curiosity at all. Its earliest form was "care killed the cat," recorded in English plays from the 1590s, including Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour (1598), where "care" meant worry or sorrow rather than nosiness. Sometime around the turn of the 20th century, "care" was swapped for "curiosity," quietly changing what the proverb actually warns against, though nobody has identified exactly when or why the substitution happened.
Sources: Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humour (1598); 'curiosity' version documented in print from the 1870s-1900s.
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