In the context of Toynbee’s historical thought, the saying captures a danger within the process of challenge and response. A successful response to one challenge can become established as a habit, institution or accepted formula. Its very success gives it authority, encouraging a society to repeat the same response when new and different challenges arise.

Failure can therefore grow out of an earlier achievement. What once demonstrated creativity may become rigid when circumstances change, particularly if a society mistakes a previously successful solution for a permanent one. This closely reflects Toynbee’s wider argument that civilisations continue to grow only by responding creatively to successive challenges. Past success provides no guarantee of future vitality; it can become an obstacle when it discourages further adaptation. The saying is therefore best understood as a warning against allowing successful responses to harden into fixed patterns that prevent an adequate response to new conditions.