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About this quote

What does it mean?
Advising against extreme measures to solve minor problems.
In plain terms
Don't destroy everything just to get rid of small pests.
What can you take from it?
Avoid disproportionate responses to small problems.

Where it applies

  • managing risks
  • making policy decisions
  • conflict resolution

Putting it to work

  • weigh costs of solutions
  • avoid overreaction

Questions to consider

  • When is a small fix worth a big change?
  • How do you judge proportionality?

Another view

Sometimes drastic action is necessary if the infestation is fatal.

More from Thomas Henry Huxley

  1. For myself I say deliberately, it is better to have a millstone tied round the neck and be thrown into the sea than to share the enterprises of those to whom t…

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  2. 'The mediaeval university looked backwards: it professed to be a storehouse of old knowledge... The modern university looks forward: it is a factory of new kno…

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  3. 'Not far from the invention of fire... we must rank the invention of doubt.'

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