As idioms go, “Let sleeping dogs lie” ranks somewhere near the top of my belief system. Everyone is familiar with this, but in case you aren’t, it means: avoid interfering in a situation, or an old argument, because trying to deal with it could cause an even more difficult situation. For background, (hey, we’re writers, we need this stuff) the phrase originated in the 13th Century, but one of the earliest published uses was in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, circa 1380. He wrote: “It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake.” A sentence which is in itself a terrific study – the verb after the subject, the spelling of “sleeping”, especially the use of a single “e” to make the “ee” sound and using “y” as the “i” sound.
That aside, I like the philosophy of leaving old arguments to settle themselves. It kind of chimes with another belief I have, “You don’t always have to be right, but you do always have to be kind.” This took me years to learn. I was an angry young man, who went out of his way to correct what I saw as injustices, or just things that are wrong. Thankfully, we didn’t have the Internet in those days. It would have driven me mad. I still have to stay my hand when I see someone using the wrong version of they’re, there, or their, but I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff. I only get into arguments about racism, sexism, and punching-down these days, Just stop it, okay? Otherwise, life is too short and too hard to get involved. Besides, some of the nicest people are functionally illiterate and anyway, “A barking dog never bites”. 
Here’s a pic of my dog sleeping. I’ll leave her alone for now.
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