trim one's sails

1. Modify one's stand, adapt to circumstances, as in His advisers told him to trim his sails before he alienated voters and bungled the election completely. This metaphoric expression alludes to adjusting a ship's sails to take full advantage of prevailing winds. [Late 1700s]

Example Sentences

Not but it must have been somewhat puzzling in the good days of the Consulate and the Empire to trim one's sails quick enough for the changes of the political hurricane.

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