Don’t stir sleeping dogs

This great advice is a nice congruent conflation of “let sleeping dogs lie” and “don’t stir a hornet’s nest”, both meaning to not instigate trouble. “Stir the pot” (exacerbate a tense situation) might also be in the mix. This one reminds me of a prior malaphor post: “Don’t wake up a sleeping dog” (May 2014). https://malaphors.com/2014/05/29/dont-wake-up-a-sleeping-dog/

A big thank you to Frank Gavio who heard this one in a conversation and sent it in.