ProverbWisdomEnglish origin1640

For want of a nail the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe the horse is lost; for want of a horse the rider is lost.

Meaning: Small negligences compound catastrophically; ignoring minor problems cascades into complete failure.

Origin: George Herbert's Outlandish Proverbs (1640) records this chain, and Benjamin Franklin repeated it in Poor Richard's Almanack, adding that for want of care about a horseshoe nail, a battle may be lost. The idea is much older, going back to medieval verse: small neglect leads, step by step, to disaster.

Equivalents in French, Japanese, German, Italian, and Chinese

  • French: Faute d'un point, Martin perdit son âne (literally: For want of a dot, Martin lost his donkey)
  • Japanese: 千丈の堤も蟻の一穴から (Senjō no tsutsumi mo ari no ikketsu kara) (literally: Even a thousand-fathom dyke collapses from a single ant hole)
  • German: Kleine Ursachen, große Wirkungen (literally: Small causes, great effects)
  • Italian: Per un chiodo si perde un ferro, e per un ferro un cavallo (literally: For a nail a shoe is lost, and for a shoe a horse)
  • 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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