A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

We must learn to WALK before we can run
The metaphorical phrase to run before one can walk is also common.

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  c 1350 Douce MS 52 no. 116 Fyrst the chylde crepyth and after gooth [walks]. c 1450 Towneley Play of First Shepherds (EETS) 1.100 Ffyrst must vs crepe and sythen [afterwards] go. 1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 75 You must learn to creep before you go. 1794 G. WASHINGTON Letter 20 July in Writings (1940) XXXIII. 438 We must walk as other countries have done before we can run. 1851 G. BORROW Lavengro II. ii. Ambition is a very pretty thing; but sir, we must walk before we run. 1876 J. PLATT Business 124 More fail from doing too much than too little. We must learn and be strong enough to walk before we can run. 1947 M. PENN Manchester Fourteen Miles xv. Mrs. Winstanley reproved her for being impatient. She pointed out..that everybody must learn to walk before they could run. 1980 K. AMIS Russian Hide & Seek iv. At the moment we can’t leave it to the English to do anything. We must learn to walk before we can run. ■ patience and impatience\
  

walk see also AFTER dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile.
wall see the WEAKEST go to the wall.
WALLS have ears
Similar to FIELDS have eyes, and woods have ears.

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  1575 G. GASCOIGNE Supposes I. i. The table.., the portals, yes and the cupbords them selves have eares. 1592 G. DELAMOTHE French Alphabet II. 29 The walles may have some eares. .. Les murailles ont des aureilles. 1620 T. SHELTON tr. Cervantes’ Don Quixote II. xlviii. They say Walls haue eares. 1766 D. GARRICK Neck or Nothing II. i. Not so fast and so loud, good master of mine—walls have ears. 1822 SCOTT Nigel I. vi. It is not good to speak of such things. .. Stone walls have ears. 1958 L. DURRELL Mountolive XII. 232 She lay in the silence of a room which had housed (if walls have ears) their most secret deliberations. 2000 J. ALTMAN Gathering of Spies v. 91 He realized that Himmler was waiting to gain distance from the house before speaking. Walls had ears, and Nazi walls had more ears than most. ■ eavesdroppers