Small thnigs make a big difference

[Art..]

I need some help. I'm looking for a saying, something like:

 

"Small things make a big difference"

 

or

 

"from an acorn, grows a mighty oak"

 

Something to convey a point to a business associate. The point is, every little bit helps.

 

Got any good ones?

 

 

[Boffin]

For the loss of a nail, the shoe was lost.

For the loss of a shoe, the horse was lost.

For the loss of a horse, the battle was lost.

For the loss of a battle, the war was lost.

For the loss of the war, the kingdom was lost.

 

Andy

[Matts_12GS]

This is probably the most common, however it's usage is so trite as to render it about useless.\

starfish story

[Ken H.]

"The Butterfly Effect"

[Couchrocket]

Our answers to the big things in life are most often the sum of many small decsions. We ignore the small things to our own peril. A great quote from ... Me

[SeanC]

The acorn quote you're probably thinking about is from a declamation written by David Everett for a public school where he was teaching. He was not much older than his students at the time, and he took the job as a way of earning money to pay for his tuition to Dartmouth College (from which he graduated in 1795). Anyway, here it is:

 

You'd scarce expect one of my age

To speak in public on the stage;

And if I chance to fall below

Demosthenes or Cicero,

Don't view me with a critic's eye,

But pass my imperfections by.

Large streams from little fountains flow,

Tall oaks from little acorns grow.

 

Here's another I like, taken from Lord Byron's Don Juan. The metaphor is somewhat different -- that small things or seemingly ordinary thoughts can be transformed into the profound by the addition of other small things -- but you may find it useful.

 

But words are things, and a small drop of ink,

Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces

That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.

 

The stanza continues, but in language more fit for English Majors than businessmen:

 

'T is strange, the shortest letter which man uses

Instead of speech, may form a lasting link

Of ages; to what straits old Time reduces

Frail man, when paper -- even a rag like this,

Survives himself, his tomb, and all that's his

 

So you can see he's making an equation something like this:

1 Thought + Ink > 1M Thoughts

or printed pages last for ages.

[leikam]

[BFish]

$1 begin with a penny and a million $$'s began with $1.....just put one foot in front of the other, keep your head down, work hard and screw "that don't sweat the small stuff" crap, everything is important!

 

 

[Quinn]

Journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.

 

A wasp in the right place can cause more damage than a tiger in the wrong place.

 

 

[SC_SVRider]

Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right. - Aldous Huxley

 

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

- Robert Collier

[randy]

I maybe wrong but I think this one has one extra line

 

For the loss of a nail, the shoe was lost.

For the loss of a shoe, the horse was lost.

For the loss of a horse, a Man was lost

For the loss of a Man, the battle was lost.

For the loss of a battle, the war was lost.

For the loss of the war, the kingdom was lost.

 

However I have always liked the rain drop one, or this one

 

would you rather have 10,000,000.00 today, or I will give you 1 cent today and then 2 cents tomorrow, and then 4 cents on the third day, and I will keep doubling the pennies for 31 days. (the answer after 31 days those pennies add up to a little over 21 million dollars)