Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth

One must always remember that too much of anything is good for nothing. Too many persons involved in managing an activity can ruin it. The above stated proverb literally means that when many cooks are engaged to prepare the broth they will spoil it instead of making it delicious. Every cook will cook it according to his own wish, taste and talent. Similarly, consuming or carrying anything too much beyond certain limit will result into bad consequences instead of the good.

When the soup is to be prepared, appropriate numbers of cooks are required according to the quantity of the soup needed. In the similar way when one piles light weighted things, one must be careful on the quantity to be loaded, as it must not exceed over the limit. A well-known poet once illustrated this proverb by explaining that the feathers of the peacock is of light weighted. Yet, if they are loaded beyond a certain limit on a cart, the pivot of the cart will break.

Similarly, when any task is started it should be carried out under a proper guidance and leadership. If too many people are involved in performing the same work, they will all use their own ideas and spoil the work. Their ideas may lead to disappointment and failure. Nobody accepts the responsibility for failure and all blame each other. It is meaningless to blame and difficult to repair the caused damage. It is widely seen in domestic matters that when a decision is to be taken or a problem is to be solved, everyone suggest their own ideas. If one takes the advice of many people, he will surely take wrong decision.

Similarly, a student should study his subjects one by one with the passage of days. If he tries to study all the subjects simultaneously, he will get confused and will fail to do well in the examinations.

Therefore, when too many people participate in a particular task, they spoil everything. In other words, when the capability is exceeded above a certain level then everything collapses and thus spoils.