祸患常积于忽微

禍患常積於忽微
huòhuàn cháng jī yú hūwēi
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 disasters grow from what is slight and overlooked
  2. 2 great misfortunes accumulate from tiny neglects
  3. 3 small oversights snowball into crisis

Examples

HSK 7-9
Guǎnlǐzhě xūzhī huòhuàn cháng jī yú hūwēi, bùnéng xiǎokàn rènhé yí gè xìjié.
Managers should know that disaster builds from what is slight and unseen - no detail is too small to matter.
HSK 7-9
Huòhuàn cháng jī yú hūwēi, ānquán shìgù wǎngwǎng shǐyú yí cì jiǎoxìng.
Disaster piles up from trifles; safety incidents usually begin with one lucky break taken for granted.

Tips

history
From Ouyang Xiu's (欧阳修, Northern Song) 《伶官传序》 (preface to the Biography of the Actors): 夫祸患常积于忽微而智勇多困于所溺 - 'disaster builds up from what is slight and unseen; wisdom and courage are often undone by what they indulge in.' A classical reflection on the fall of the Later Tang, now used as a management maxim.
usage
Often paired with its twin 智勇多困于所溺 ('wisdom and courage are undone by what they indulge'). 忽微 literally means 'the overlooked and the minute' - the trifles no one takes seriously until they compound.

Stroke Order

huò
huàn
cháng
wēi