[aargh_aargh]

Intuitively, I often feel the same.

Joel Spolsky argues against that: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...

The Mythical Man-Month as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect

[Illniyar]

It's worth mentioning that what both of these are talking about are rewrites using a new project in a all or nothing stake. Iterative rewrites are not subject to these caveats.