"Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" is a quotation – sometimes misquoted with "on" in place of "upon" – from Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" of January 1735. The line is sometimes encountered and has become associated with more recent figures.
It can be taken as referring to putting massive effort into achieving something minor or unimportant, and alludes to "breaking on the wheel", a form of torture in which victims had their long bones broken by an iron bar while tied to a Catherine wheel.
Read more about Who Breaks A Butterfly Upon A Wheel?: Pope's Satire, Modern Use
Famous quotes containing the word breaks:
“Scarlett O’Hara: What shall we do? Ashley, what’s to become of us?
Ashley Wilkes: What do you think becomes of people when their civilization breaks up? Those who have brains and courage come through all right. Those who aren’t are winnowed out.”
—Sidney Howard (1891–1939)