Explore English traditional proverbsReviewed 2026-10-12
Meaning: Verified- Meaning and lesson
The saying advises leaving trouble alone when it has temporarily subsided. Unnecessary interference may disturb a calm situation and bring back difficulties that had seemed to be gone.
It recommends restraint rather than testing fortune or reopening a settled problem. If misfortune is inactive, the safer choice is not to provoke it through needless action.
- When it is used
Use it when someone wants to reopen a problem, challenge a fragile calm, or take an unnecessary action that could cause old troubles to return.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: When ill luck falls asleep, let nobody wake her.