Don't bite off more than you can chew

Meaning: Don't take on more than you can handle.

Origin: An American saying of the 1870s, usually traced to chewing tobacco, which came in solid plugs that users bit pieces from; someone offered a plug might take more than they could manage. An early example is in John Hanson Beadle's Western Wilds (1877).

Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, and 4 more languages

French: Il ne faut pas avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre (literally: Don't have eyes bigger than your stomach)
Spanish: Quien mucho abarca, poco aprieta (literally: He who grasps much, holds little)
Japanese: 鵜の真似をする烏 (U no mane o suru karasu) (literally: A crow imitating a cormorant (and drowning))
German: Wer zu viel fasst, lässt viel fallen (literally: He who grasps too much lets much fall)
Italian: Non fare il passo più lungo della gamba (literally: Don't take a step longer than your leg)
Dutch: Te veel hooi op zijn vork nemen (literally: To take too much hay on one's fork)
Chinese: 贪多嚼不烂 (Tān duō jiáo bú làn) (literally: Grab too much and you can't chew it)
Korean: 뱁새가 황새를 따라가면 다리가 찢어진다 (Baepsaega hwangsaereul ttaragamyeon dariga jjijeojinda) (literally: A crow-tit that follows a stork splits its legs)
Arabic: رحم الله امرأً عرف قدر نفسه (Raḥima Allāhu imraʾan ʿarafa qadra nafsih) (literally: God bless the one who knows his own limits)

On the map

More than you can handle

The same idea in 17 versions, colored by the picture each one uses. Each country shows the version in its main language.

World map: too big a mouthful (English, Chinese, French, Persian, Norwegian); grabbing too much (Spanish (Spain), German, Dutch); overreaching (Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian, Swedish, Icelandic, Arabic); copying bigger birds (Japanese, Korean).

Download the full map with every saying (PNG)See all world maps

7 more languages on the map

Persian لقمه گنده‌تر از دهنش برداشتن (Loqme-ye gonde-tar az dahanash bardāshtan)“To take a morsel bigger than your mouth”Source: LanGeek English–Persian dictionary; Abadis dictionary
Norwegian Gape over for mye“To open your mouth around too much”Source: Nynorskordboka (Ordbøkene, University of Bergen); Wiktionary
Portuguese Dar um passo maior do que a perna“To take a step longer than your leg”Source: Wiktionary; Plainspell Portuguese dictionary
Polish Porywać się z motyką na słońce“To go at the sun with a hoe”Source: Wiktionary; Polish-Dictionary.com; ZPE (Polish state e-learning portal)
Hungarian Túl nagy fába vágja a fejszéjét“To sink your axe into too big a tree”Source: Wiktionary; We Love Budapest; Talkpal
Swedish Ta sig vatten över huvudet“To take on water over your head”Source: Wiktionary; University of Gothenburg news item titled with it
Icelandic Reisa sér hurðarás um öxl“To lift a door beam onto your shoulder”Source: Wiktionary; Cleasby–Vigfusson Icelandic dictionary (from the sagas)