like rats from a sinking ship

like rats from a sinking ship

With great haste and having only personal wellbeing in mind. (Typically said of people who begin abandoning something or someone that is failing or about to fail.) I knew the business was doomed when employees started quitting en masse, like rats from a sinking ship. Like rats from a sinking ship, the disgraced athlete's corporate sponsors began pulling their sponsorships one after another.
See also: like, rat, ship, sink
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • like rats abandoning a sinking ship
  • like rats deserting a sinking ship
  • rats deserting a sinking ship
  • like rats leaving a sinking ship
  • be in great haste
  • haste
  • someone or something owes you a living
  • the world owes you a living
  • think something/someone owes you a living
  • think the world owes (one) a living