Practice Makes Perfect
Posted by Masakim on November 21, 2001
In Reply to: 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)
- Practice Makes Perfect capable wingnut 11/22/01