Neither of us knew the way — it was the blind leading the blind.
the blind leading the blind
idiomA situation in which someone incompetent is guiding others who are equally incompetent.
Origin
The phrase comes from a saying of Jesus recorded in Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39, aimed at the religious teachers of his day: "if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." The criticism is that guides who cannot see themselves are worse than useless — they lead their followers into the same danger.
The image needs no explaining. A guide is meant to know the way; a guide as lost as those following can only make things worse, and the ditch waits for both.
English kept the phrase as a stock rebuke for misguided leadership of any kind. The blind leading the blind describes any case where the person in charge is no more capable than those they are supposed to be directing — a novice manager training raw recruits, or a committee of amateurs advising one another in circles.
With no experienced staff left, the training sessions became the blind leading the blind.
After the senior engineers were laid off, product decisions fell to a group who had never shipped anything — the blind leading the blind, and the release schedule showed it.
The Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount.
- 01
the salt of the earth (idiom)
Good, honest, dependable people who lack pretension.
- 02
a wolf in sheep's clothing (idiom)
A dangerous or hostile person who hides behind a harmless, friendly appearance.
- 03
cast the first stone (idiom)
To act self-righteously in accusing another person, believing oneself to be blameless.
- 04
go the extra mile (idiom)
To make an extra effort; to do a particularly good job.
- 05
turn the other cheek (idiom)
To accept punishment or injury without retaliating.
- 06
the eye of a needle (idiom)
A standard for something so difficult it is all but impossible to pass or achieve.