penny wise and pound foolish

If by couetousnesse or negligence, one withdraw from them their ordinary foode, he shall be penny wise, and pound foolish.
[1607 E. Topsell Four-footed Beasts 609]

I think a Woman who will give up herself to a Man in Marriage, where there is the least room for such an Apprehension‥ may very properly be accused‥of being Penny wise and Pound foolish.
[1712 J. Addison Spectator 7 Feb.]

He never would insure his ricks. ‥Miss Diana has often told him he deserved to have his ricks take fire for being penny wise and pound foolish.
[1864 Mrs H. Wood Trevlyn Hold II. xxi.]

I didn't stop because I was too focused on saving that 2 cents a gallon. I was, without a doubt, being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
[2001 Washington Post 17 June H1]

Related to: meanness; stupidity

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.

Stingy about small expenditures and extravagant with large ones, as in Dean clips all the coupons for supermarket bargains but insists on going to the best restaurants--penny wise and pound foolish. This phrase alludes to British currency, in which a pound was once worth 240 pennies, or pence, and is now worth 100 pence. The phrase is also occasionally used for being very careful about unimportant matters and careless about important ones. It was used in this way by Joseph Addison in The Spectator (1712): "A woman who will give up herself to a man in marriage where there is the least Room for such an apprehension ... may very properly be accused ... of being penny wise and pound foolish." [c. 1600]