Those who in quarrels interpose
Must often wipe a bloody nose.

John Gay’s couplet is a moral tag from his fable “The Dog and the Fox,” part of his widely read collection *Fables* (first issued in 1727). Gay, a prominent Augustan poet and satirist in the circle of Swift and Pope, wrote fables in a plain, proverbial style meant to convey practical lessons about human behavior. In this particular fable, two animals are engaged in a quarrel; a third party attempts to step between them and is injured for the trouble. The line became a common English proverb warning that peacemaking or meddling in others’ disputes can bring harm to the would-be mediator.

The couplet cautions against intervening in conflicts that are not yours, especially when passions are high and neither side welcomes interference. “Interpose” can mean both to mediate and to meddle; Gay’s point is that even well-intentioned intervention may be punished by both parties, because the interloper becomes an easy target or is blamed for taking sides. As a fable-moral, it generalizes from a small, vivid physical consequence (“a bloody nose”) to a broader social truth: disputes have their own momentum, and outsiders risk reputational or literal injury by stepping in without authority, consent, or a clear ability to stop the fight.

Those who in quarrels interpose / Must often wipe a bloody nose.