O. Henry's 1909 short story "Schools and Schools" includes a mention that suggests knowledge of the proverb had become widespread by that time: Curiosity can do more things than kill a cat; and if emotions, well recognized as feminine, are inimical to feline life, then jealousy would soon leave the whole world catless.The phrase itself was the headline of a story in The Washington Post in 1916 about a cat who had climbed the flue of a chimney, and died after falling down to a lower floor.
[3] Despite these earlier appearances, the proverb has been wrongly attributed to Eugene O'Neill, who included the variation, "Curiosity killed a cat!"
On 10 August 1905, The Galveston Daily News newspaper (page 6) printed the following quotation without the word satisfaction:[4] Curiosity killed a cat; but it came back.On 23 December 1912, the earliest known printed reference to this variation of the proverb is found in The Titusville Herald newspaper (page 6):[5] You will find greater values here.
The song includes the following lines:[citation needed] Curiosity killed the cat but what it found brought it back.
Stephen King's 1977 horror novel, The Shining, includes the following lines:[8] Curiosity killed the cat, my dear redrum.