Pour not water on a drowned mouse.

Do not add to the troubles of someone who has already suffered enough. Further punishment or criticism may serve no purpose beyond making a bad situation worse.

The image makes the excess plain: more water cannot make a mouse more drowned. It urges restraint when the damage has already been done.

Use this proverb to object when someone wants to keep blaming, punishing, or burdening a person who is already in difficulty. It suggests that piling on is needless and may be unkind.