Fig.: said of someone who stands between two courses of action and, unable to choose, neglects both

After high school he couldn't decide which faculty to enroll in: maths or liberal arts? So he kind of fell between two stools: he didn't choose any, dropped out of school and now he's working as an odd-job man in a warehouse

Dopo la maturità non sapeva se iscriversi a matematica o a lettere, così ha fatto come l'asino di Buridano: non sapendo cosa scegliere non ha fatto nessuna scelta, ha abbandonato la scuola ed ora lavora come magazziniere

The Prime Minister is like Buridan's ass, not knowing whether to choose American hay or European straw; global expansions or custom duties; dangerous reforms or hated counter-reforms

Il capo del governo è come l'asino di Buridano: non sa se prendere il fieno dell'America o la paglia dell'Europa; le espansioni globali o il ritorno ai dazi doganali; le riforme pericolose o le controriforme odiose

How will the Alitalia question end up? Economic sense or national pride, which comes first? It is possible for both to come first. Ailing national carrier, Alitalia finds itself behaving like Buridan's Ass, caught smack in between economic sense and national pride

Come finirà la faccenda Alitalia, compagnia aerea di bandiera sull'orlo del fallimento? Che cosa deve prevalere: l'aspetto economico o l'orgoglio nazionale? Certo che la compagnia aerea si ritrova a fare come l'asino di Buridano, presa in mezzo tra economia e orgoglio nazionale

Jean Buridan, French philosopher of the 14th century, according to Ockam's nominalism, formulated a theory of will "voluntas est intellectus et intellectus voluntas", in which he maintained that choice is invariably determined by the greater good, and that the only freedom which we possess is a power of suspending our choice and reconsidering the motives for action. His critics, in order to make fun of his theory, made up the story of an equally hungry and thirsty domestic ass that, placed equidistant from a bundle of hay and a pail of water, cannot choose whether to eat or to drink first; so, it remains in its original position and dies of hunger and thirst. Later on, the dilemma was between two piles of hay.