Meaning of give them an inch and they'll take a mile | Babel Free

Definitions

Granting someone a limited concession will encourage them to take greater liberties.

Equivalents

Examples

“O the tyranny of aristocracy!—give it a furlong, and it will take a mile,—a veto stopped me once from going to Brussels: and now comes a Lettre de cachet ordering me to Paris.”

“If you had a horse or a small article of property taken, you would recover it by law; not for the value of the article itself, but if you give an aggressor an inch, he will take a mile.”

“Show them that those who have defended the nation with the sword can control it by the ballot-box. Give no cowardly scamp an inch, or he will take a mile.”

“Buy for them beautiful pictures, and encourage them to decorate their rooms each in his or her own childish way. Give them an inch and they will take a mile. Allow them the privilege and they will make your home beautiful.”

“Undertake to make men of students by giving full immunities, and lawlessness, or perhaps we should say carelessness and indifference, results. "Give them an inch and they will take a mile," is the maxim that illustrates their course.”

“Don't let us tempt the devil to tempt us. If we give Satan an inch, he will take a mile.”

“If Kirishima-san had known the proverb about giving some people an inch and they take a mile, she would have applied it to Jack. The moment she showed the least sign of relenting from the stiff, almost solemn attitude she usually assumed when trying to teach him, and gave him the smallest word of approbation, he immediately took advantage of it.”

“The North therefore felt herself often obliged to give way, which encouraged the South to take a mile the next time when we gave her an ell.”

“Let them know that even should they get the best of you now, that you will still be men and demand your rights as such. Never give an inch. If you do, the employer will take a mile.”

“His language was not clear, but his intent was. To yield to his demands meant that he would take what money I had and perhaps do more mischief; give him an inch and he will take a mile.”

“The easy-going officers are perhaps our worst enemies. We all like them at the schools, and we all take a mile when they give us a foot.”

“Hardly is a law on the statute books before someone proposes some way to improve it. People who distrust social security anyway are likely to complain about the entering wedge or to say, give an inch and they take a mile.”

“Give the aggressor an inch and he'll take a mile. Give him a country and he'll ask for a continent. Ten years ago, there were those who hoped to buy “peace in our time” from Hitler; Henry Wallace by the same course would have us today try to buy “peace in our time” from Stalin.”

“Early in the trial respondent cautioned petitioner against “putting on a show” and added that “if you give him an inch, he'll take a mile. I might as well sit on him now.””

“However, now that you have given me the broad scope I will take advantage of it. When you give me an inch, I will take a mile!”

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