Soon ripe soon rotten. [ Proverb ]

Too much wit
Makes the world rotten. [ Alfred Tennyson ]

Early ripe, early rotten. [ Proverb ]

A rotten cause abides no handling. [ William Shakespeare ]

There's a small choice in rotten apples. [ William Shakespeare ]

But, poor old man, thou prunest a rotten tree,
That cannot so much as a blossom yield
In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry. [ William Shakespeare ]

Gold can gild a rotten stick, and dirt sully an ingot. [ Sir P. Sidney ]