Out of the frying pan into fire

This is an ancient proverb meaning that one disastrous course of action is often followed by another. Its first appearance is in Latin in the work of the Roman writer Quintus Septimius Tertullian (c.155-225 AD), “De calcaria in carbonarium.” It also appears in John Heywood Proverbs (1546), “Leap out of the frying pan into the fire.”