The 1893 Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources lists a similar proverb, which it claims is of Chinese provenance: "Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one." ![]() ![]() To mar the subject that before was well? Variations Were it not sinful then, striving to mend, In his tragedy King Lear (1606), the Duke of Albany warns of "striving to better, oft we mar what's well" and in Sonnet 103: Its sense in English literature can be traced back to Shakespeare. Antecedents Īristotle and other classical philosophers propounded the principle of the golden mean which counsels against extremism in general. Previously, around 1726, in his Pensées, Montesquieu wrote " Le mieux est le mortel ennemi du bien" (The better is the mortal enemy of the good). Says that the better is the enemy of the good.) It subsequently appeared in his moral poem, La Bégueule, which starts: In the English-speaking world the aphorism is commonly attributed to Voltaire, who quoted an Italian proverb in his Questions sur l'Encyclopédie in 1770: " Il meglio è l'inimico del bene". Achieving absolute perfection may be impossible and so, as increasing effort results in diminishing returns, further activity becomes increasingly inefficient. For example, it commonly takes 20% of the full time to complete 80% of a task while to complete the last 20% of a task takes 80% of the effort. The Pareto principle or 80–20 rule explains this numerically. ![]() Perfect is the enemy of good is an aphorism which means insistence on perfection often prevents implementation of good improvements.
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