Institutions must ignore trifles, because attention spent on the negligible is taken from the significant.
From Roman law. An institution that pursues every trivial infraction has spent on the negligible the attention the significant required, which is why enforcement discretion is a feature rather than a lapse.
In practice
- A regulator that pursues every minor breach has spent on the trivial the inspectors the serious cases needed.
- A manager who raises every small lateness has no standing left for the conversation that matters.