fiddle while Rome burns
Ignore urgent crisis
To fiddle while Rome burns is to occupy yourself with trivial matters during a crisis, ignoring urgent problems that demand attention.
The phrase alludes to the legend of Emperor Nero playing his lyre during the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD: The CEO was fiddling while Rome burned, focused on office décor while the company hemorrhaged money.
The image captures oblivious negligence or callous indifference to disaster.
- asleep at the wheelFailing to supervise properly
- neglectFailure to provide care
- inactionDeliberate nonmovement
- NeroTyrannical first-century ruler
- indifferenceLack of interest
disregard · nonchalance · apathy · insouciance · procrastination · too little too late · mismanagement · shortsightedness · missing the forest for the trees · complacency · detachment · lyre · violin · fall of Rome · heedlessness · impassivity · ignorance · escapism
- Historical AllusionsTrojan horse, Achilles heel, Pyrrhic victory, crossing the Rubicon, Pandora's box
fiddle while Rome burnsrise to the occasion
Succeed when challenged
spring into action · take the bull by the horns · roll up one's sleeves · step up to the plate · answer the call
fiddle while Rome burnskeep one's eye on the ball
Remain attentive to priorities
get down to brass tacks · cut to the chase · first things first · see the forest for the trees · stay focused
fiddle while Rome burnsstep up to the plate
Assume responsibility when needed
take charge · take command · lead from the front · answer the call · take responsibility
fiddle, fiddler, fiddling, fiddled, fiddles, Romans, Romanesque, Romano, burns