This teaches prudence. It is a quotation from an essay by Montaigne (‘Il faut
reculer pour mieux sauter’) and has much the same meaning as Look before you
leap, except that the stress is not on looking but on making previous
preparations. For example, a stream may be too wide for us to clear in one
leap from a standing position on the bank. We therefore withdraw several paces
so that a preliminary run will give us the necessary impetus to reach the
other side. In the same way, it is not wise, even though we are in a hurry, to
embark on something without previous thought and planning, which may seem to
be slowing us down, but in fact hastens our progress.