“There is no greater mistake than to try to leap an abyss in two jumps.”

[Lloyd George, David, David Lloyd George, War Memoirs, New, 1, 1938, Odhams Press Limited, London, 445, XXIV: Disintegration of the Liberal Party]
War Memoirs

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There is no greater mistake than to try to leap an abyss in two jumps." by David Lloyd George?
David Lloyd George photo
David Lloyd George 172
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1863–1945

Related quotes

David Lloyd George photo

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

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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.
Later life

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Howard Pyle photo
Henry Adams photo

“Science itself had been crowded so close to the edge of the abyss that its attempts to escape were as metaphysical as the leap.”

Henry Adams (1838–1918) journalist, historian, academic, novelist

The Education of Henry Adams (1907)

Charles Evans Hughes photo

“No greater mistake can be made than to think that our institutions are fixed or may not be changed for the worse.”

Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) American judge

Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government (1909).
Context: No greater mistake can be made than to think that our institutions are fixed or may not be changed for the worse. … Increasing prosperity tends to breed indifference and to corrupt moral soundness. Glaring inequalities in condition create discontent and strain the democratic relation. The vicious are the willing, and the ignorant are unconscious instruments of political artifice. Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses... The peril of this Nation is not in any foreign foe! We, the people, are its power, its peril, and its hope!

Maya Angelou photo
Brandon Mull photo

“When jumping is the sole option, you jump, and try to make it work.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Grip of the Shadow Plague

Janet Evanovich photo
Edmund Burke photo

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

Not found in Burke's writings. Appears to be a paraphrase of "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little." sourced to Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845).

Related topics