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Quote#Wisdom

It is a bungling fisherman who strikes at the first nibble; I shall…

Quote byEdward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby · 1799–1869

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Remarks to his son explaining why he declined to form a government (22 February 1851), quoted in Disraeli, Derby and the Conservative Party: Journals and Memoirs of Edward Henry, Lord Stanley, 1849–1869, ed. John Vincent (1978), p. 44.

English (original)

It is a bungling fisherman who strikes at the first nibble; I shall wait till my fish has gorged the bait and then I am sure to land him.

— Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

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