Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
Do not discard something valuable while trying to remove what is unwanted or defective. Improve or reform it selectively rather than rejecting the whole thing.
Origin
This is an English version of the German proverb das Kind mit dem Bade ausschuetten. Thomas Murner used it in his 1512 satire Narrenbeschwoerung, where a woodcut makes the exaggerated metaphor explicit. Thomas Carlyle introduced a recognizable English translation in the 1853 version of an essay first published in 1849, and the saying became common in English much later. It was a proverb, not a report of families bathing in sequence and accidentally tipping out a baby; there is no evidence for that popular story.
Research Sources
Variants
- Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater
- Throw the baby out with the bathwater
- Empty the baby out with the bathwater
Usage Examples
- The old booking system is awkward, but replacing it before the new one is tested would throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- By scrapping the entire policy instead of fixing its loopholes, the council threw out the baby with the bathwater.
- Keep the useful chapters when you revise the handbook; don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.