A small paintbrush drawing a curling teal stroke that divides into two, on a warm white background.

Original artwork, not a still

Sententiae

Publilius Syrus

To do two things at once is to do neither.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Splitting your attention between two tasks means neither gets proper effort. This aphorism claims that divided focus yields nothing of real value, so a person achieves more by committing fully to one thing at a time than by juggling both and finishing neither well.

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