Put your foot down where you mean to stand.

Put your foot down where you mean to stand.

This makes you think of ancient warriors placing their standard and vowing to fight to the death like Ancient Greek Spartans or Cheyenne Dog Soldiers.

Many an old time battle was lost or won entirely on the nature of the terrain. The important point here is to be sure of your ground before getting into a conflict. This was literally true in war where charging at an enemy and discovering your horses were stuck in a bog invited disaster. This taught the general idea of not getting into a dispute without a good grasp of all the details and likely consequences. If you take a stand on something you are "pinning your colors to the mast" and can expect opponents to start taking pot shots.

This applies to your everyday life when you decide to be confrontational on a point of principle or in a conflict with your boss or a customer. You must make sure you have the advantage before taking action "be sure of your ground"; ideally this means you will know your facts and be in the right. If you are confident of the outcome you can then deal firmly with the problem.