# kill the goose that lays the golden eggs

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/kill-the-goose-that-lays-the-golden-eggs
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To seek short-term gain at the sacrifice of long-term profit.

## Examples

- If you sell the company now, you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
- He kills the goose that lays the golden eggs by overworking his only employee.
- By cutting the research budget to save money, the manager is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
- If the landlord raises the rent too high, he might kill the goose that lays the golden eggs by forcing his best tenant to leave.
- The band killed the goose that laid the golden eggs when they stopped writing music to focus only on selling expensive merchandise.
- The government's decision to overtax the successful tech industry risks killing the goose that lays the golden eggs for the national economy.

## Origin

From the Aesop’s fable The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, in which a married couple owns a goose that produces a single golden egg each day. The couple, motivated by greed, determines to kill the goose to obtain the entirety of the gold they suppose to be held within its body. Upon being opened, the goose proves to be anatomically identical to any normal goose, and the source of the gold is permanently extinguished.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.