Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·8 of 348
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp."
They never said that.
What people say
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp."
What was actually said
"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, / Or what's a heaven for?" Robert Browning — "Andrea del Sarto" (1855)
Why it stuck
The half-line drops Browning's rhetorical question, which makes the case for striving. Without it the quote is an aphorism; with it, an argument.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.