Grasp all, lose all. (Strauss, 1994 p. 884)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
If you try to do too many things, you will fail to do any of them.
Literally: hold everything, lose everything
Examples
He tried to grasp all, lose all by taking on too many projects at once.
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 “Grasp all, lose all. (Strauss, 1994 p. 884)” mean?
If you try to do too many things, you will fail to do any of them. Literally: hold everything, lose everything
Is “Grasp all, lose all. (Strauss, 1994 p. 884)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.