too many irons in the fire

Cultural  

1. To have “too many irons in the fire” is to be engaged in too many activities: “Gomez turned down the consulting job; he felt that he already had too many irons in the fire.”

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Example Sentences

Strike while you’ve got too many irons in the fire.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 2, 2019

Suspect our Northern friends have too many irons in the fire, none of which are hot.

From Time Magazine Archive

But, not wishing to have "too many irons in the fire," he declined their offers, which added to his reputation of an industrious young man, that of an upright and cautious one.

From The Life of Benjamin Franklin With Many Choice Anecdotes and admirable sayings of this great man never before published by any of his biographers by Weems, Mason Locke

It would not do to have too many irons in the fire in such times as these, when no one had any great deal of money.

From Hope Mills or, Between Friend and Sweetheart by Douglas, Amanda Minnie

We had better have too many irons in the fire than none at all.

From The Christian Home by Philips, Samuel