This idiom is used to express that a group can only be as successful as its least successful or powerful person. The success of the entire group depends on the success of each individual member of the group. If one person fails, the whole group fails.
Origin of A Chain is As Strong As Its Weakest Link?
There is little information about the first recorded use of this idiom.
It may have originated from an ancient Basque proverb with a similar meaning that translates to, “a thread usually breaks from where it is thinnest.”
A variation of the idiom first appeared in Thomas Reid’s “Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man,” published in 1786. The full idiom “a chain is no stronger than its weakest link” was first printed in Cornhill Magazine in 1868.
Shot taken at 'The Slipway' on the edge of St Dogmaels.
