ProverbCommunication
English origin1786
English origin1786A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
Meaning: A group's effectiveness is limited by its weakest member.
Who said it? Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, 1786
Origin: The Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid wrote in Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1786) that in any chain of reasoning, the conclusion can be no stronger than the weakest link of the chain. He meant arguments, but the image transferred easily to anything whose strength depends on a single point of failure.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, German, Russian, Polish, and Chinese
French: Une chaîne n'est jamais plus solide que son maillon le plus faible (literally: A chain is never stronger than its weakest link)
Spanish: Una cadena es tan fuerte como su eslabón más débil (literally: A chain is as strong as its weakest link)
German: Eine Kette ist nur so stark wie ihr schwächstes Glied (literally: A chain is only as strong as its weakest link)
Russian: Где тонко, там и рвётся (Gde tonko, tam i ryvotsya) (literally: Where it's thin, that's where it tears)
Polish: Gdzie cienko, tam się rwie (literally: Where it's thin, there it tears)
Chinese: 千里之堤，溃于蚁穴 (Qiān lǐ zhī dī, kuì yú yǐ xué) (literally: A thousand-mile dyke collapses through an ant hole)
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