Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance. (Strauss, 1998)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Don't prioritize a lesser benefit over a more important one
Literally: grabbing at a shadow and losing the real thing
Examples
He was so caught up in the potential tax savings that he forgot about the main advantage of the investment
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance. (Strauss, 1998)” mean?
Don't prioritize a lesser benefit over a more important one Literally: grabbing at a shadow and losing the real thing
Is “Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance. (Strauss, 1998)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.