let nature take its course

• let nature take her course, let Nature take its course

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let nature take its course (third-person singular simple present lets nature take its course, present participle letting nature take its course, simple past and past participle let nature take its course)

1. (idiomatic) To permit events to proceed or a situation to develop without intervention or interference.
   • 1916, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 27, in Cappy Ricks:

     "Do you mean to put a secret-service operative aboard disguised as a deckhand?"
     "Huh! Skinner, you distress me. I'm going to put Matt Peasley aboard the Quickstep as second mate, and let Nature take its course."

   • 1917, Ring Lardner, Sr., “The Water Cure”, in Gullible's Travels:

     A boat trip to St. Joe! I and the Missus and the two love birds. And I'd see to it that the chaperons kept their distance and let Nature take its course.

2. (idiomatic, euphemistic) To allow a person or animal to die without medical or other attempts to forestall death.
   • 1984, Piers Anthony, On A Pale Horse, →ISBN, page 145:

     I have slashed veins in my ankles and am pleasantly bleeding to death in this hot water. There is no greater kindness you can do me than to let nature take its course.

   • 2005 March 27, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, “If God died for all of us, it is not ours to decide who is fit to live”, in telegraph.co.uk, retrieved 2 Sept. 2010:

     Her life is not worth living, people say; see, she is dependent on others even for food and water; let nature take its course.

• Sometimes expressed in the hortative mood as a proverb.

• stand aside

• benign neglect
• let sleeping dogs lie