see the forest for the trees
Formssees the forest for the trees, seeing the forest for the trees, saw the forest for the trees, seen the forest for the trees
- 1To make out the overall pattern in a mass of detail and grasp the broader situation, used mostly in the negative.
A good editor steps back from the sentences to help a writer see the forest for the trees.
The committee spent months arguing over footnotes and never saw the forest for the trees.
Note
The proverb is old: John Heywood recorded it in English in 1546. It is nearly always negated, as in can't see the forest for the trees, and the for means "because of": the trees themselves block the view of the whole. Albert Einstein, in the preface to Relativity, hopes his readers will not feel like the wanderer who was unable to see the forest for the trees.
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Origin
John Heywood documented the English use of the proverb in 1546.