little strokes fell great oaks
- idiom
:
poco a poco se logra mucho
- His success is proof that little strokes fell great oaks, as he made steady progress every day.
Examples
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The teacher often says, 'little strokes fell great oaks.'
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Remember, little strokes fell great oaks.
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His success is proof that little strokes fell great oaks, as he made steady progress every day.
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She reminded her team that little strokes fell great oaks when they felt overwhelmed by the huge project.
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Whenever I'm discouraged, I remember that little strokes fell great oaks and keep working bit by bit.
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She reminded her team that little strokes fell great oaks when they felt overwhelmed by the huge project.
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Whenever I'm discouraged, I remember that little strokes fell great oaks and keep working bit by bit.
Synonyms
1
3.7
Small things you do or give are important because they add up
Surface Forms
Morphology
little + stroke + fell + great + oak
The phrase literally says small blows ('little strokes') can cause large trees ('great oaks') to fall, so a learner who knows the constituent words can infer a physical meaning; extending that physical image to the metaphorical sense (small, repeated efforts produce large results) requires an inferential metaphorical step. Because the mapping from literal action to abstract moral is systematic and cross-linguistically common but not strictly compositional or immediately explicit, it is partially transparent rather than fully transparent or fully idiomatic.
Etymology
Little strokes fell great oaks shows a simple picture: many small strokes, or hits, with an axe can slowly cut down big oaks. So it means 'small and steady efforts can achieve big results'.