blind leading the blind

Meaning

Phrase

• A situation in which an unqualified person is attempting to guide, advise, or train others.

Origin

• The phrase can be traced back to The Upanishads, written between 800 BCE and 200 BCE.
• : Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned, fools go aimlessly hither and thither, like blind led by the blind. - Katha Upanishad
• A similar expression exists in the Buddhist Pali Canon, composed in North India, and preserved orally until it was committed to writing during the Fourth Buddhist Council in Sri Lanka in 29 BCE.
• The expression appears in Horace: ' ("the blind leader of the blind'''"). Horace was a leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE)
• The saying appears in the King James Version of the Bible (1611), Gospel of Matthew, 15:14:
• : Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.