give (someone) an inch and they'll take a mile
give (someone) an inch and they'll take a mile
Yield only a little and you’ll be taken advantage of. This expression began life as a proverb, “Give him an inch and he’ll take an ell,” cited in Heywood’s 1546 collection. Around the turn of the twentieth century mile entered the picture, as in W. D. Steele’s The Man Who Saw Through Heaven (1927): “Give these old fellows an inch and they’ll take a mile.”
See also: and, give, inch, mile, take
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- eat one's cake and have it, too, to
- can't see the forest/wood(s) for the trees
- teach a man to fish
- village
- it takes a village
- know what/which side of the bread is buttered (on), to
- which way the wind blows, (to know)
- be the spice of life
- the best-laid plans
- the best-laid plans of mice and men