Those who are too greedy or ambitious, trying to take too much at once, end up with nothing. Overreaching leads to total failure.
The verb 'stringere' — to grip, to grasp — gives this proverb its physical immediacy: the image is of hands grasping at too many things simultaneously and therefore dropping everything. It is a warning against the specifically Italian vice of combinare troppo — trying to run too many schemes at once — which was a recognizable behavioral type in the competitive commercial environments of Renaissance Italy. The proverb appears in Tuscan collections from the fifteenth century and is attributed in some sources to the tradition of popular wisdom compiled by humanist scholars. It belongs to a family of proverbs warning against excessive ambition and the failure of overreach, a theme prominent in classical literature from Aesop to Horace. In Italian culture the saying is used to caution against both material greed and social overextension: trying to maintain too many friendships, too many business ventures, or too many commitments at once. The English 'Grasp all, lose all' is the closest equivalent, conveying the same image of failed grasping.
Documented in Tuscan collections from the 1400s; reflects the competitive commercial environment of Renaissance Italian merchant culture.
Starting too many projects
Ha aperto tre negozi contemporaneamente e sono tutti falliti. Chi troppo vuole nulla stringe.
He opened three shops at the same time and all of them failed. Who wants too much grasps nothing.
Overly ambitious negotiation
Voleva tutto e non ha accettato l'offerta ragionevole. Chi troppo vuole nulla stringe — alla fine non ha preso niente.
He wanted everything and didn't accept the reasonable offer. Who wants too much grasps nothing — in the end he got nothing.
Social overcommitment
Si è iscritta a cinque corsi contemporaneamente e li ha abbandonati tutti. Chi troppo vuole nulla stringe.
She enrolled in five courses at once and dropped them all. Who wants too much grasps nothing.
Investing
Ha messo i soldi in dieci settori diversi senza conoscerne nessuno. Chi troppo vuole nulla stringe.
He put money into ten different sectors without knowing any of them. Who wants too much grasps nothing.