Here’s my stab at it:
Long before the internet, this folk wisdom encapsulates the notion that:
A. It’s not enough to have an intention without acting on it
and/or
B. It’s often hard to predict the long-term implications of an action. Famous examples: the inventor of the plastic bag was trying to solve the problem of waste from paper bags; Alfred Nobel’s dynamite was created as a safe way to blast rocks.
Here’s my stab at it: Long before the internet, this folk wisdom encapsulates the notion that: A. It’s not enough to have an intention without acting on it and/or B. It’s often hard to predict the long-term implications of an action. Famous examples: the inventor of the plastic bag was trying to solve the problem of waste from paper bags; Alfred Nobel’s dynamite was created as a safe way to blast rocks.
Was dynamite ever actually used as a weapon rather than a blasting tool?
I think it was too unstable but it paved the way for military uses of stable explosives.