proverb · Source-linked selection
Put a snake in your bosom, and when it is warm it will sting you.
Put a snake in your bosom, and when it is warm it will sting you.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Helping someone who intends harm may expose the helper to betrayal. The warmed snake gives that warning a dramatic image of trust meeting a hostile response.
What the words are saying
The creature receives shelter and then injures the person who provided it. As a metaphor, the saying can encourage attention to evidence of repeated harmful conduct before granting close access. It does not prove that generosity usually fails or that any group is naturally treacherous. A careful reading distinguishes compassion from unrestricted trust, allowing boundaries without treating every person in need as a threat.
Everyday example
Someone offers limited practical help to a person who has repeatedly misused confidences, while declining to share further private information.
When to use it
Use it to distinguish assistance from trust unsupported by conduct.
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What it does not mean
It is not animal-handling advice or a reason to stereotype people seeking help.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 1462 · Snake
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English