Who said one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch?

Answer 1

People are being too literal. Of course it means that one rotten apple in the bushel basket can ruin them all, but it also means one negative or misbehaving person in a group can bring the whole group down.

Answer 2

There seems to be particular origin to the phrase. It was quoted in slightly different form by Shakespeare. It is said that Benjamin Franklin commented 'the rotten apple spoils his companion'. In the 19th century, religious sermons were fond of quoting 'as one bad apple spoils the others, so you should show no quarter to sin or sinners.. A French journalist, in 1898, quoted that a 'bad apple spoils the bin'. There is also an argument that the proverb could be Chinese, being quoted as 'one mouse dropping ruins a whole pot of rice'

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The comment that 'one bad apple does not spoil the whole bin' has been quoted by numerous people from all walks of life. Many authors have stated that just because one person did not like their book, it did not mean that others would not like it either. The common quotation is that 'not everyone is evil'

Answer 3

Things rot because an organism called a "decomposer" (bacteria or fungus) is living on it. If two items are in close proximity or even better, in contact, the decomposer will spread from one item to the adjacent ones. Thus one bad (rotting) apple place in a barrel will cause rotting of all the apples in the barrel after a time.

The saying is used to mean that in a closed system, a bad influence will spread.

Answer 4

The Osmond Brothers aka The Osmonds