COUNCILS of war never fightPeople discussing matters in a group never reach the decision to take action, which an
individual would make.
1863 H. W. HALLECK Telegram 13 July (1877) III. 148 Act upon your own
judgment and make your Generals execute your orders. Call no counsel [sic] of war. It is
proverbial that counsels of war never fight. 1891 A. FORBES Barracks, Bivouacs &
Battles 191 Solomon’s adage that in the multitude of counsellors there is wisdom does
not apply to war. ‘Councils of war never fight’ has passed into a proverb. 1998
Washington Times 28 Sept. A21 A council of war never fights, and in a crisis the duty of
a leader is to lead and not to take refuge behind the generally timid wisdom of a
multitude of councilors. action and inaction; decision and indecision; warfarecounsel see a FOOL may give a wise man counsel; NIGHT brings counsel.Don’t COUNT your chickens before they are hatchedAn instruction not to make, or act upon, an assumption (usually favourable) which might
turn out to be wrong. The metaphorical phrase to count one’s chickens is also used.
c 1570 T. HOWELL New Sonnets C2 Counte not thy Chickens that vnhatched be.
1579 S. GOSSON Ephemerides of Phialo 19 I woulde not haue him to counte his
Chickens so soone before they be hatcht, nor tryumphe so long before the victorie. 1664
S. BUTLER Hudibras II. iii. To swallow Gudgeons ere th’are catch’d, And count their
Chickens ere th’are hatch’d. 1829 SCOTT Journal 20 May (1946) 69 I see a fund..
capable of extinguishing the debt.. in ten years or earlier. .. But we must not reckon our
chickens before they are hatchd. 1906 in Lady D. Nevill Reminiscences xxii. A victory
may be snatched, But never count your little chicks, Before they’re safely hatched. 1935
‘R. HULL’ Keep it Quiet xxiv. To Cardonnel, he wrote his congratulations, adding that as
to convicting the thief, he feared that they were far from proof, and ought not to count
their chickens. 1964 RIDOUT & WITTING English Proverbs Explained 42 Mr. Smith
hoped to be made manager before the end of the year. .. ‘Don’t count your chickens
before they are hatched,’ warned his wife. 2002 New Scientist 5 Jan. 17 Ultimately it’s a
question of how much oil is down there, and how quickly it can be extracted. No one
really knows, but the geological evidence suggests that the US might be counting its
chickens before they’re hatched. optimism