Give an inch, he'll take an ell.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- If you allow a small concession, others will demand much more.
- In plain terms
- Being too willing can lead to taking too much.
- What can you take from it?
- Hold firm boundaries early to prevent others from exploiting your generosity.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Where do you need to hold your line?
- Is compromise always dangerous?
Another view
Sometimes flexibility builds trust rather than inviting greed.
More from Thomas Hobbes
To understand this for sense it is not required that a man should be a geometrician or a logician, but that he should be mad.
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