1. Home
2. Idioms
3. don't bite the hand that feeds (you)

don't bite the hand that feeds (you)

---

---

don't bite the hand that feeds (you)

Do not scorn or treat ill those on whom one depends or derives benefit, for to do so is to risk losing those benefits altogether. You might not agree with your parents' rules, but don't bite the hand that feeds you, because you owe everything you have to them. In politics, you learn quickly not to bite the hand that feeds, because benefactors can just as quickly crush your political future.

See also: bite, feed, hand