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Re: Practice Makes Perfect

Posted by Masakim on November 21, 2001

In Reply to: Re: Practice Makes Perfect posted by ESC on November 21, 2001

: : Where does the phrase practice makes perfect come from. Please let me know?

: : Kevin

: PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT - 'The more you practice, the better your skills are. The proverb has been traced back to the 1550s-1560s, when its form was 'Use makes perfect.' The

version is: 'Uses promptos facit.' First attested in the United States in 'Diary and Autobiography of John Adams' ." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

Uor wone maketh ["th" is originally a thorn] maister. (_Ayenbite_, 1340)
For use maketh mastery. (_Detection ... of Dice Play_, c1530)
Vse makes maistry. (Heywood, _Proverbs_, 1546)
Eloquence was vsed, and through practise made perfect. (T. Wilson, _Arte of Rhetorique_, 1560)
Forsooth as vse makes perfectnes, so seldome seene is soone forgotten. (H. Porter, _Two Angry Women of Abington_, 1599)
Practice makes perfect. (J. Adams, _Diary_, 1761)
For practice makes perfect, as often I've read. (Anstey, _New Bath Guide_, 1766)