Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«El que mucho abarca, poco aprieta.»
Word for word
He who grasps much, squeezes little.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Said of someone taking on too many things at once and doing none of them well.
Hear it in a sentence
Se apuntó a cinco cursos a la vez y no terminó ninguno: el que mucho abarca, poco aprieta.
He signed up for five courses at once and finished none — don’t bite off more than you can chew.
More Spanish sayings
- De tal palo, tal astilla. — A chip off the old block.
- No hay que buscarle tres pies al gato. — Don't overcomplicate things.
- Muerto el perro, se acabó la rabia. — Once the source is gone, the problem ends.
- Tanto va el cántaro a la fuente, que al final se rompe. — The pitcher goes to the well so often that it breaks at last.
- Cría cuervos y te sacarán los ojos. — Nurture a snake in your bosom and it will bite you.
Why learn dichos?
Proverbs like this one are everywhere in spoken Spanish — dropped mid-conversation, usually just the first half, with the rest left for you to complete. Recognizing them is one of the fastest ways to sound less like a textbook and follow real speech. Every Lingocito edition signs off with the dicho del día, so you meet one a day next to news written at your level.