he who does not advance goes backwards
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
If you don't make progress, you will lose ground
Literally: one who doesn't move forward moves backward
Examples
He who does not advance goes backwards, so we need to innovate constantly
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 “he who does not advance goes backwards” mean?
If you don't make progress, you will lose ground Literally: one who doesn't move forward moves backward
Is “he who does not advance goes backwards” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.