practice makes progress

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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In analogy with practice makes perfect; this proverb states instead that progress must be made before one can perfect something, eliciting patience.

Proverb

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practice makes progress

  1. If one practices an activity enough, one will steadily make progress and eventually be able to master it in time.
    • 1987, Michael C. Jackson, Paul Keys, editor, New Directions in Management Science, Gower Publishing, →ISBN, page 50:
      There is a fine balance between asking too many questions and becoming an irritant, asking too few and knowing insufficient. But practice makes progress even if it is not possible to claim perfect.
    • 2010, Susan Fiske, Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology, Wiley, →ISBN, page 171:
      Although people may not be good at suppressing unwanted thoughts and derailing unbidden ruminations, practice makes progress.
    • 2023, Sarah-Kate Duran, “Consistency”, in Paso Robles Press[1]:
      But what I find the most inspiring is "Practice makes progress." Whether your progress is a yard or an inch — distance is distance.