For a want of a nail the shoe is lost,for want of a shoe the horse is lost,
for want of a horse the rider is lost. This proverb which stresses the
importance of seeming trifles, dates back to the seventeenth century. In the
eighteenth century Benjamin Franklin expanded it as follows:

> For the want of a nail the shoe was lost
> For the want of a shoe the horse was lost
> For the want of a horse the rider was lost
> For the want of a rider the battle was lost
> For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost
> And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.