According to the proverb, which animal always returns to its own vomit?
As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly developed the idea, imbuing it with a sense of shame and guilt, "As when a dog goes to his own vomit and becomes abominable, so is a fool who returns in his wickedness to his own sin." This was due to the contemporary idea of the fool as ungodly. The Second Epistle of Peter refers to the proverb (), "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." Kipling cites this in his poem "The Gods of
As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly the Copybook Headings" as one of several classic examples of repeated folly: The proverb is a favourite of the British politician Ken Livingstone who used it on the occasion of his failure to rejoin the Labour Party in 2002. It was also used on occasion in the Parliament of Australia by Paul Keating, in reference to his political opponents. In the TV programme "Endeavour" (the prequel to "Inspector Morse"), in the episode titled "Home," Endeavour returns to his family home to visit his sick father. He goes with his sister Joyce to a pub for a drink and the following