Cats and Butterflies: Two misunderstood analogies

The most common reformulation of the ‘Butterfly effect’ is: ‘small actions can have a big impact’. Whether any particular snowflake is the last to fall or somebody clapped loudly near a snow drift just before the avalanche fell says nothing about the ability of small things to have big effects. The ‘butterfly effect’ is a good metaphor for the sensitivity to initial conditions aspect of it.

Source: metaphorhacker.net