Law of holes


The first law of holes, or the law of holes, is an adage which states: "if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging". Digging a hole makes it deeper and therefore harder to get out of, which is used as a metaphor that when in an untenable position, it is best to stop carrying on and exacerbating the situation.

Attribution

The adage has been attributed to a number of sources. It appeared in print on page six of The Washington Post dated October 25, 1911, in the form: "Nor would a wise man, seeing that he was in a hole, go to work and blindly dig it deeper..." In The Bankers magazine, it was published in 1964 as: "Let me tell you about the law of holes: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."
In the United Kingdom, it has been referred to as "Healey's first law of holes" after politician Denis Healey, who used the adage in the 1980s and later.
Some sources misattribute the phrase to American humorist Will Rogers.