Unfortunately, philosophy has proved to be a poor guide in this respect.

Common sense can be a poor guide and an uncertain surgeon.

For the long term, today's crisis is obviously a poor guide.

The state of a marriage is a poor guide to the course of a Presidency.

But news items are a poor guide; most pilot errors never make the papers.

She is also malicious, and malice makes a poor guide.

A consequence of breaking new ground is that received wisdom becomes a poor guide.

Off-off-year elections are poor guides to the future of national politics.

This pattern impedes our understanding of social problems and is a poor guide to good public policies.

However, since 1945, our past has proved a poor guide.