practice makes perfect

English

Proverb

practice makes perfect

1. If one practices an activity enough, one will eventually master it.
   • 1986, R.E.M. (lyrics and music), “I Believe”, in Lifes Rich Pageant:

     Golden words make practice, practice makes perfect, perfect is a fault, and fault lines change.

Translations

if one practices an activity enough, one will eventually master it

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 熟能生巧 (suk⁶ nang⁴ sang¹ haau²)

  Mandarin: 熟能生巧 (zh) (shúnéngshēngqiǎo)

• Czech: opakování matka moudrosti
• Danish: øvelse gør mester
• Dutch: oefening baart kunst
• Esperanto: ekzercado lertigas
• Estonian: harjutamine teeb meistriks
• Finnish: harjoitus tekee mestarin
• French: usage rend maître, c’est en forgeant qu’on devient forgeron (fr)
• German: Übung macht den Meister (de)
• Hebrew: קשה באימונים קל בקרב (he)
• Hindi: गाते गाते कला वंत हो जाते हैं (gāte gāte kalā vant ho jāte ha͠i)
• Hungarian: gyakorlat teszi a mestert (hu), ismétlés a tudás anyja (hu)
• Icelandic: æfingin skapar meistarann (is)
• Inari Sami: hárjehusat rahkada measttir
• Italian: la pratica rende esperti; sbagliando s'impara, val più la pratica della grammatica
• Japanese: 習うより慣れろ (narau yori narero), 鏡は重磨によって輝く (kagami wa jūma ni yotte kagayaku)
• Korean: 서당개 삼 년에 풍월 읇는다 (seodanggae sam nyeone pung'wol eulleunda)
• Latin: repetītiō est māter studiōrum, fabricandō fit faber, exercitātiō artem parat
• Malay: alah bisa, tegal biasa
• Maltese: il-pratika tagħmlek perfett
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: øvelse gjør mester

  Nynorsk: øving gjer meister

• Persian: کار نیکو کردن از پر کردن است (kâr nêku kardan az por kardan ast)
• Polish: ćwiczenie czyni mistrza (pl), trening czyni mistrza
• Portuguese: a prática faz a perfeição
• Russian: повторе́ние мать уче́ния (povtorénije matʹ učénija), у кого́ сноро́вка, тот рабо́тает ло́вко (u kovó snoróvka, tot rabótajet lóvko), на́вык ма́стера ста́вит (návyk mástera stávit), де́ло де́лу у́чит (délo délu účit)
• Scottish Gaelic: is e an cleachdadh a nì teòma
• Serbo-Croatian: вежба чини мајстора, vežba čini majstora
• Spanish: la práctica hace al maestro, la práctica hace la perfección
• Swedish: övning ger färdighet (sv)
• Telugu: అభ్యాసం కూసు విద్య (abhyāsaṁ kūsu vidya)
• Urdu: گاتے گاتے کلاونت ہو جاتے ہیں (gāte gāte kalāvant ho jāte ha͠i)
• Vietnamese: có công mài sắt có ngày nên kim (vi)

See also

• practice makes progress
• perfect is the enemy of good

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 281.