Make not your sail too large for your ship.
Make not your sail too large for your ship.
Meaning in plain English
Keep the demands of an undertaking within what can support them. Sail and ship represent ambition and capacity, encouraging a suitable balance rather than assuming that larger plans are always unwise.
Example
A volunteer magazine keeps its first issue short enough for the available editors, then plans additional sections after more helpers join.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The sail is pictured as being chosen in relation to the ship that must carry it. The saying extends that relationship to plans whose scale depends on available time, resources or support. An attractive expansion can become difficult if the arrangement beneath it has not grown to match. The useful question is what the increased scope will require and whether those requirements can be met. Capacity can change through preparation, collaboration or a revised method, so the proverb need not discourage growth. It cautions against increasing the visible ambition while leaving its foundation inadequate. Its figurative use is not a specification for fitting a vessel.
When to use it
Use it when comparing a plan’s scope with the resources supporting it.
Keep in mind
Capacity can be improved; this metaphor does not forbid growth or provide sailing instructions.
Edsverb editorial interpretation · agent reviewed · 2026-10-05. This explains the saying; it does not establish its historical origin.
- Source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 1384 · Sail
Read the original context ↗ - Attribution confidence
- traditional · historical anthology
Preserved as printed; independently unverified. - Historical coordinate
- Undated
No reliable date supplied by the collection. - Rights & edition
- Public domain (United States)
Translations and rights may differ elsewhere.
Provenance and licences ↗