can't see the forest/wood(s) for the trees
can't see the forest/wood(s) for the trees
Focusing on small details makes one overlook the large picture. John Heywood’s proverb collection in 1546 has it, “Ye cannot see the wood for the trees.” A modern twist was provided by C. S. Lewis in a critique of William Golding’s novel, The Inheritors: “All those little details you only notice in real life if you’ve got a high temperature. You couldn’t see the wood for the leaves.”
See also: forest, see, tree
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- eat one's cake and have it, too, to
- give (someone) an inch and they'll take a mile
- know what/which side of the bread is buttered (on), to
- teach a man to fish
- which way the wind blows, (to know)
- village
- it takes a village
- all cats are gray after dark/at night
- bigger they are, the harder they fall
- bigger they come, the harder they fall, the