don't shit where you eat

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

don't shit where you eat

1. (idiomatic, vulgar) One should not cause trouble in a place, group, or situation in which one regularly finds oneself.
   • 1994 April 14, Nelson Navarro, "Ever faithful, ever true," Manila Standard (Philippines) (retrieved 12 Aug. 2011):

     The guiding principle is Don't shit where you eat. Office romances are always destructive of morale and objectivity.

   • 2003 Oct. 8, Jonathan Valania, "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Pussy," Philadelphia Weekly (retrieved 12 Aug. 2011):

     Limbaugh was scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at the NAB convention in, of all places, Philadelphia, thus violating the cardinal law of the animal kingdom: Don't shit where you eat.

   • 2006 Sept. 19, Michael Musto, "NY Mirror," Village Voice (retrieved 12 Aug. 2011):

     Mitchell refused to indulge in on-set romances with either gender. "You don't shit where you eat," he told me, plainly.

• Often used as a warning of the dangers of workplace romances.

• don't shit in your own nest

• don't dip your pen in the company ink