<P> The proverb remained the same until at least 1898 . Ebenezer Cobham Brewer included this definition in his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: </P> <P> Care killed the Cat . It is said that "a cat has nine lives," yet care would wear them all out . </P> <P> The origin of the modern variation is unknown . The earliest known printed reference to the actual phrase "Curiosity killed the cat" is in James Allan Mair's 1873 compendium A handbook of proverbs: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Shakesperean, and scriptural; and family mottoes, where it is listed as an Irish proverb on page 34 . </P> <P> In the 1902 edition of Proverbs: Maxims and Phrases, by John Hendricks Bechtel, the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat" is the lone entry under the topic "Curiosity" on page 100 . </P>

Where did the phrase curiosity killed the cat come from