Don't swap horses when crossing a stream.不要中流换马。
这条谚语也可写作:Don't change horses in midstream.Don't亦可改用Never。
骑马过河,到中流时换马是很危险的。这比喻事情发展到危急或紧要关头,不宜轻易变换主持人或作较大方针的变换。美国林肯总统(Abraham Lincoln)于1864年最早提出这条谚语。当时美国南北战争正达到高潮,有人要撤换总统,林肯总统对批评他的人说:“I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country, but I am reminded in this connexion of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses when crossing a stream.”
相似意思的谚语还有:
Three removals are as bad as a fire.
三次搬迁犹如一场火灾。
这些都是说:一动不如一静,现况虽然不尽如人意,但变更了反而造成更大问题。