Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Small actions can destroy large systems. Even a rat can break a dike.
In plain terms
Small things can destroy big nations.
What can you take from it?
Ignore small threats at your peril.

Where it applies

  • risk management
  • security
  • maintenance

Putting it to work

  • fix small leaks early
  • audit minor risks

Questions to consider

  • What small thing could break your system?

Another view

Not every small flaw leads to collapse.

More from Edmund Burke

  1. Well is it known that ambition can creep as well as soar.

    Permalink to quote #155
  2. Free trade is not based on utility but on justice.

    Permalink to quote #157
  3. Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, …

    Permalink to quote #154

Related quotes

  1. 'We were escorted out of town in a bullet-proof bus because I said a pro-IRA statement in Antrim.'

    Dave MustaineDave Mustaine quote #1
  2. 'Note that I hold the single-author record for total CERT advisories, proving that in my copious youth I knew how to sling code but not how to manage risk.' (2…

    Paul VixiePaul Vixie quote #1
  3. The fact that now we know well that there is proliferation of nuclear weapons and that many of the weapons that Saddam Hussein had, for example, we do not know…

    Paul MartinPaul Martin quote #3