The exact words
“The Germans say, “you must empty-out the bathing-tub, but not the baby along with it.””Thomas Carlyle, “Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question” (1849), the first well-known use in English. The German saying itself goes back to Thomas Murner's Narrenbeschwörung (1512).
✓ VerifiedFound in a primary source: the original book, speech transcript, letter or recording.
What people get wrong
Common reading
It comes from Tudor England, when whole families shared one tub of bathwater and the baby went last, so the water was so dirty you could lose the baby in it.
It comes from Tudor England, when whole families shared one tub of bathwater and the baby went last, so the water was so dirty you could lose the baby in it.
Closer to the original
That story circulates in internet lists about “life in the 1500s” but has no historical basis. The proverb is German, and its first record is a satirical book from 1512.
That story circulates in internet lists about “life in the 1500s” but has no historical basis. The proverb is German, and its first record is a satirical book from 1512.
Timeline
- 1512The German satirist Thomas Murner uses the saying in Appeal to Fools, a book mocking human foolishness, with a woodcut showing exactly the mistake.
- 1500s onwardThe saying becomes a common German proverb, “das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten.”
- 1849Thomas Carlyle introduces it to English readers, explaining that “the Germans say” you must empty the bathtub but not the baby with it.
Use it in a speech
We had a bad season, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Our defense was the best in the league. We keep that, and we fix the rest.
~10 secondsto say aloud
Pauseafter “bathwater”
Best spotthe season review
Critics who want to scrap standardized testing altogether risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater, a German proverb first printed in 1512.
~8 secondsto say aloud
Pausenone needed in writing
Best spotthe counterargument paragraph
Questions people ask
What does don't throw the baby out with the bathwater mean?
Don't discard something valuable while getting rid of the bad parts around it.
Where does the phrase come from?
It is a German proverb first recorded in Thomas Murner's Narrenbeschwörung in 1512. Thomas Carlyle brought it into English in 1849.
Is it true that families shared bathwater and the baby was washed last?
That story is a modern internet myth about the 1500s with no evidence behind it.
Cite this quote
This is a traditional proverb, so it counts as common knowledge and most style guides don't ask you to cite it. If you want to say where it comes from, give the earliest known use: German proverb, first recorded in Thomas Murner's Narrenbeschwörung (Appeal to Fools) (1512).