There is a phrase, "Man's reach exceeds his grasp." Could someone explain what this means?

Question

Nikola Tesla utters the above phrase in the movie "The Prestige," and then modifies it to, "Man's grasp exceeds his nerve." I think I'd better appreciate the second quote if I better understood the first.

Answer 1

Reach your arm out as far as it can go. Notice that just because your fingertips may be able to touch something, it doesn't mean that you can curl your fingers around it to grasp it. This is used as a metaphor for how humans are able to touch on ideas, technologies, and feats without being able to fully master them.

In the "Prestige," which I haven't seen, I imagine that he substituted the word nerve to mean that humans have more balls than they ought to. We're always tempting fate by trying things that we can't master.

Answer 2

If the 'reach' and 'grasp' mentioned in the expression referred to different faculties, as some suggest, this would be a mixed metaphor and those are usually met with rolled eyes and the like.

So the expression is referring to the same faculty. You can reach with your hand things that you can not grab onto and hold. Everyone trying to get something on a really high shelf has probably had this experience.... another reasons why it's a popular expression.

And if you think about what often happens in such situations, the meaning of the expression becomes clear. If you reach out and try to get things that are beyond your grasp, you're as likely to topple it over, push it beyond your reach further, or otherwise make things harder for yourself instead of easier. In other words, it is suggesting that if you pursue what SEEMS barely possible, then you are probably courting chaos.

In 'The Prestige', Tesla's role is that of the super-genius. He calls the above expression a lie, and instead asserts the EXACT OPPOSITE - that 'man's grasp exceeds his nerve'. He thinks it's cowardice, not the potential for disaster, that prevents people from doing the apparently impossible.

For that matter, Angier also coins an alternate version of the phrase a little later on: "Man's reach exceeds his imagination". Given the above two, I think it would have been better said as 'man's GRASP exceeds his imagination'... but again hopefully you get the point:

Angier in the beginning claims that the role of the magician is to fool people into thinking that the world is not really as simple as it is. But, after being presented with some of Tesla's wonders, he is convinced that the problem was not that the world was simple, but that most people lack the imagination to see the complexity. Thus the problem isn't cowardice, as Tesla bitterly asserts, but just not seeing the possibilities.

And 'The Prestige' is all about very unusual possibilities.

Answer 3

Grasp Meaning

Answer 4

That is actually not the quote, the quote comes from the poem, "Andrea del Sarto" by Robert Browning . This is the quote:
"...
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?
..."

The poem is about a painter, Andrea del Sarto "a Renaissance painter who was regarded highly by his contemporaries because of his technical skill. Michelangelo was especially fond of Del Sarto's work, and it was he who introduced Giorgio Vasari to Del Sarto's studio. Vasari, however, was highly critical of his teacher, alleging that, though having all the prerequisites of a great artist, he lacked ambition and that divine fire of inspiration which animated the works of his more famous contemporaries, like Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. This was and is the most common critique of Del Sarto's work. The fact that while he had great technical skill, his paintings lacked "soul" is indeed mentioned in this poem. Browning links this shortcoming with several other issues, principally Sarto's marriage to an unfaithful wife, Lucrezia del Fede, whose constant demands for money for her family and lovers led him to neglect his own parents and misappropriate money given him by Francois I of France. She is the interlocutor of this dramatic monologue."

Renaissance, think about how the church had a monopoly on the great artists -- church propaganda for the masses whom could not read. In the poem Andrea del Sarto is lamenting his lack of soul in his paintings ... "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" ...

Answer 5

man always reaches out and tries to accomplish things but when they get into it they cant grasp the meaning.. like with our hunt for knowledge when we are trying to find out about "god" or the meaning of life even if we found the truth we wouldn't understand. that's what i believe it means

Answer 6

These words are from a poem by Robert Browning and simply mean that to achieve anything worthwhile, we should attempt even those things that may turn out to be impossible.

Answer 7

I would translate as "reach" meaning mankinds abilities versus our "grasp" being our understanding.
The human race knows alot of thing but understands so very few.

Answer 8

The Prestige Quotes

Answer 9

Man has the most "reach."
Second-most "grasp."
Third-most "nerve."

That means we can reach for something, but not necessarily grasp it. In the process, we encounter things for which we lack the nerve. And that's what sustains the gap between "reach" and "nerve" ... being "grasp."

Answer 10

as far as iam aware, or at least how ive been using it is, that man is capable of doing things he is not prepared for. for insatnce i could kill someone today, but id go home nd freak out about it forever. so my reach (killing some1) exceeds my grasp ( ability to prepare for the out come) look before you leap!!