There are six Laws of Holes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a proverb about quitting, called the Law of Holes, that has its own Wikipedia page. During the 1980s in the United Kingdom it was used by the politician Denis Healey. The law is that (as shown above):

 

“If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”

 

That really was just the First Law of Holes. (But why is then implied rather than explicitly stated?) I looked around further and found that there are another five Laws of Holes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, the Second Law of Holes is to:

 

 “Remember that you are still in a hole”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, the Third Law of Holes is to:

 

“Get help to bring a ladder so you can climb out.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fourth Law of Holes is that:

 

“If you can’t get help, cut steps and climb out yourself.”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The preventive Fifth Law of Holes is to:

 

 "Fill in the hole, so no one else can fall into it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the Sixth Law of Holes is: 

 

“If you can’t fill the hole, put warning signs around it.

 

There is a 2026 book by Lindsay Krouse titled The Case for Quitting: The surprising benefits of opting out. Her Chapter 9 is titled The Law of Holes. On page 148 she says that:

 

“Escalation of commitment can quickly lead us to collide head-on with what an economist once described to me as ‘the law of holes,’ which sounds obvious by often ignored: ‘If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.’ “

 

And on page 161 she continues:

 

“Quitting was the first step. Then she discovered the second Law of Holes (‘Remember, you are still in a hole.’).”

 

There is an article by Paul Synnott at LinkedIn Pulse on November 24, 2022 titled Don’t Always Rely on the Ladder! He says that:

 

“For me, there are only three ways out of this situation.

The first is to recognise that you are in over your head, put down the shovel and holler in the hope that someone might hear you and come to your rescue.

The second is to accept the hand of the person who has realised that you might be in a spot of bother, and has, of their own volition, reached down to pull you out.

And in the absence of the first two, the third is to use the ladder; you know, the one that we all pack away as a last resort, in readiness for a quick escape for when we do end up digging that hole just a little too deep.”

 

Another article by Sun Shine (at Medium) on June 23, 2017 is titled Investing and the five laws of holes. He says:

 

“The First Law of Holes (this is the only stated law of holes) – if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging…

 

The Second Law of Holes – If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging, come out of it, and then fill it in to keep it from becoming a hazard…

 

The Third Law of Holes – If you don’t know that you are in a hole, ask someone who isn’t covered with mud and standing in the shade…

 

The Fourth Law of Holes – If someone else, and especially when that someone appears smart and has been successful in the recent past, seems to be digging a hole, don’t try to jump in to give him company…

 

The Fifth Law of Holes – Trust your logic – ‘I must get out of the hole before I fall deeper’ – more than your ego – ‘How could I have been so blind to have gotten into this hole?’ ”

 

How old is the sentiment behind the First Law of Holes? There is an article by Garson O’Toole at the Linguist list on October 19, 2004 titled Proverb: When you’re in a hole, stop digging – On the dangers of digging (Joel Chandler Harris 1889). Joel Chandler Harris told the Uncle Remus stories about the trickster Br’er Rabbit.

 

My cartoons used modified images from OpenClipArt of a standing man, digging, and a ladder.

 

 

Is today the first day of the rest of your life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug Savage’s Savage Chickens cartoon for February 5, 2026 titled First has the following dialogue:

 

First Chicken: Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

 

Second Chicken: This second is the first second of the rest of this minute!

 

Second Chicken [continuing]: That’s how ridiculous you sound.

 

Where did that tired proverb come from? The Wikipedia article on Synanon has a section Beginnings saying their founder Charles E. ‘Chuck’ Dederich Sr. coined the phrase. But the 2012 Dictionary of Modern American Proverbs instead says on page 260 (see Google Books) that it first shows up in the January 29, 1968 Helena Montana Independent Record (but likely is older than that):

 

“The colorful fluorescent posters lining the walls of the crowded Student Union theatre bore such messages as….’Today is the first day of the rest of your life’.”

 

Another Wikipedia article attributes that proverb to The Digger Papers.

 

That proverb also is on a sign in a ‘Welcome to Hell’ Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An illustration for “This second is the first second of the rest of this minute!” is shown above based on an OpenClipArt image.

 

 

If you only have a hammer, then everything looks like a nail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Savage Chickens cartoon for November 18, 2025 by Doug Savage is titled The Amazing Hammer and is shown above. It illustrates a proverb Wikipedia terms the Law of the instrument. Some web sites attribute versions of it to Mark Twain:

 

Goodreads - “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail”

 

AZ Quotes – “If your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.”

 

Quotefancy - “To someone with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

 

At Quote Investigator on May 8, 2014 Garson O’Toole discussed it in an article titled Quote Origin: If Your Only Tool Is A Hammer Then Every Problem Looks Like a Nail. He found no evidence for Mark Twain, and rather found a 1962 version by Abraham Kaplan:

 

“Give a boy a hammer and everything he meets has to be pounded.”

 

There also are a 1964 version by Abraham Maslow:

 

“Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.”

 

and another 1966 version:

 

“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”

 

Update November 23, 2025

 

Adam Savage’s 2019 memoir Every Tool’s a Hammer: Life is what you make it discusses the converse. In Chapter 12 Hammers, Blades, and Scissors, on pages 266 and 267 he writes about his friend, Mark Buck:

 

“He was a man with an aversion for fools and a love of tools. If he walked by your workbench and he saw you looking too long for something in your toolbox, he’d instruct you in an almost solemn tone, like a sifu, ‘Remember, in every tool, there is a hammer.’ What he meant was that every tool can be used for a purpose for which it wasn’t intended, including the most basic of operations, like hammering. He also meant that until you learn to see what tools can do beyond their stated purpose, you can’t quite be a maker. Truer words have rarely been spoken.”

 

 

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a brief proverb (from back in 1840) by Thomas H. Palmer that:

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”

 

I was looking at Annie Duke’s 2022 book, Quit: the power of knowing when to walk away, and found she quoted a newer and profane parody of it (attributed to the comedian W. C. Fields):

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

 Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it.”

 

Annie referenced the Quote Investigator web site by Garson O’Toole, which has an article on August 12, 2013 titled If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it. Mr. O’Toole found that it did not come from Fields, but was attributed to him after he had died. There are other versions with ‘silly’ rather than ‘a damn fool.’

 

There are two other variations by Barry Popik at The Big Apple. The first one from August 30, 2012 is:

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.”

 

The second one from January 3, 2017 is:

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try two more times so your failure is statistically significant.”

 

There is a third variation at an article in the 2015, Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (by Jennifer Speake and J. A. Simpson):

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try reading the instructions.”

 

Thomas H. Palmer’s original proverb had appeared on page 223 of his 1840 book titled The Teacher’s Manual. It is the third and fourth lines from a longer poem:

 

“TRY, TRY AGAIN

 

‘Tis a lesson you should heed,

Try, try again;

If at first you don’t succeed,

Try, try again;

Then your courage should appear,

For, if you will persevere,

You will conquer, never fear;

Try, try again;

 

Once or twice, though you should fail,

Try, try again;

If you would, at last prevail,

Try, try again;

If we strive, ‘tis no disgrace,

Though we may not win the race;

What should you do in the case?

Try, try again;

 

If you find your task is hard,

Try, try again;

Time will bring you your reward,

Try, try again;

All that other folks can do,

Why, with patience, should not you?

Only keep this rule in view,

TRY, TRY AGAIN”