“He who jumps for the moon and gets it not leaps higher than he who stoops for a penny in the mud.”

—  Howard Pyle , book The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Source: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Howard Pyle photo
Howard Pyle 4
American illustrator and author 1853–1911

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“Down on his knees he sinks, the stiff-necked King,
Stoops and kneels and grovels, chin to the mud.”

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Context: Down on his knees he sinks, the stiff-necked King,
Stoops and kneels and grovels, chin to the mud.
Out from his changed heart flutter on startled wing
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“He who slings mud generally loses ground.”

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“There is nothing more dangerous than to leap a chasm in two jumps.”

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As quoted in Design for Power : The Struggle for the World (1941) by Frederick Lewis Schuman, p. 200; This is the earliest citation yet found for this or similar statements which have been attributed to David Lloyd George, as well as to Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, Vaclav Havel, Jeffrey Sachs, Rashi Fein, Walter Bagehot and Philip Noel-Baker. It has been described as a Greek, African, Chinese, Russian and American proverb, and as "an old Chassidic injunction". Variants:
Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
The most dangerous thing in the world is to try to leap a chasm in two jumps.
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“There is no greater mistake than to try to leap an abyss in two jumps.”

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Book I, sec. 7
History of Rome

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