Little sticks kindle the fire, but great ones put it out.
Meaning: Small initial efforts build momentum, while overwhelming force can extinguish fragile progress.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Challenge
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- Trust not still water nor a silent man. — Stillness can mask danger; silence often conceals intentions, schemes, or untapped depths…
- After a storm comes a calm. — Hardship is temporary; peaceful periods naturally follow difficult ones.
- Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. — Worrying about tomorrow's troubles prevents you from managing today's actual problems eff…
- He deserves not the sweet that will not taste the sour. — Pleasure earned through hardship is more valuable and meaningful than unearned comfort.
- He teacheth ill who teacheth all. — Overwhelming learners with everything prevents them from mastering anything truly valuabl…
From our tongue twisters
- Strč prst skrz krk. — Four words, zero vowels — the most concentrated consonant cluster challenge in any Europe…
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. — The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.