even a worm will turn

Meanings

1. Even the meekest or most docile people will retaliate or seek revenge if pushed too far.

Etymology

First attested in a collection of proverbs by John Heywood in 1546, in the form “Treade a worme on the tayle, and it must turne agayne.” Popularized by William Shakespeare in The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, see quotations.