Nip in the bud

If you see a bad habit begin to develop, try to nip it in the bud so that it does not become ingrained.

Ori. I do confeſs I'm too eaſie, too much Woman, / Not coy enough to take Affection, / Yet I can frown and nip a Paſſion, / Even in the Bud: I can ſay / Men pleaſe their preſent Heats; then pleaſe to leave Us.

“I couldn’t be any more upset,” said Inge Bank, 82, who lives near the bar. “We have to nip it in the bud if the Nazi party is coming back.

These myths need to be nipped in the bud before they become conventional wisdom.