"Perfect is the enemy of good" is an aphorism that means insistence on perfection often prevents implementation of good improvements. The phrase argues that achieving absolute perfection may be impossible; one should not let the struggle for perfection stand in the way of appreciating or executing on something that is imperfect but still meritable.
Origin
[edit]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".[1] It subsequently appeared in his moral poem, La Bégueule, which starts:[2]
Dans ses écrits, un sage Italien |
In his writings, a wise Italian |
Previously, around 1726, in his Pensées, Montesquieu wrote "Le mieux est le mortel ennemi du bien" ('The best is the mortal enemy of the good').[3]
Antecedents
[edit]Aristotle and other classical philosophers propounded the principle of the golden mean which counsels against extremism in general.[4]
Its sense in English literature can be traced back to Shakespeare.[5] 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:
Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject that before was well?
Variations
[edit]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".
More recent applications include Robert Watson-Watt propounding a "cult of the imperfect", which he stated as "Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes";[6] economist George Stigler's assertion that "If you never miss a plane, you're spending too much time at the airport";[7][8] and, in the field of computer program optimization, Donald Knuth's statement that "Premature optimization is the root of all evil".[9] In marketing, the concept of "quality creep" is also recognised as counterproductive.[10]
See also
[edit]- Gold plating (software engineering)
- If it ain't broke, don't fix it
- Nirvana fallacy
- Satisficing
- Utopia
- Wabi-sabi
- Worse is better
- KISS Principle
References
[edit]- ^ Voltaire (1770). Questions sur l'Encyclopédie, par des Amateurs. Vol. 2. Geneva, Switzerland: (publisher not named). p. 250.
- ^ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; Allen W. Wood; Hugh Barr Nisbet (1991), Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Cambridge University Press, p. 447, ISBN 978-0521348881
- ^ Robert Shackleton (1988), Essays on Montesquieu and on the Enlightenment, Voltaire Foundation at the Taylor Institution, ISBN 978-0-7294-0354-2
- ^ Tal Ben-Shahar (2009), The Pursuit of Perfect, McGraw Hill Professional, p. 113, ISBN 978-0-07-160882-4
- ^ Robert Allen (2008), Allen's Dictionary of English Phrases, Penguin UK, pp. 242–243, ISBN 978-0140515114
- ^ L Brown (1999), Technical and Military Imperatives: A Radar History of World War 2, p. 64, ISBN 9781420050660
- ^ Natasha Geiling (23 June 2014), "If You've Never Missed a Flight, You're Probably Wasting Your Time", Smithsonian
- ^ Steven E. Landsburg (2008), More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics, Simon and Schuster, p. 224, ISBN 9781416532224
- ^ Donald Knuth (2015), Rubin H. Landau; Manuel J. Páez; Cristian C. Bordeianu (eds.), Computational Physics, Wiley, ISBN 9783527413157
- ^ "Quality Creep". Monash Business School. April 3, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
Further reading
[edit]- Eric Johns (October 1988), "Perfect is the Enemy of Good Enough", U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings: 37
- Robert Watson-Watt (1957), "The Cult of the Imperfect", Three Steps to Victory, Odhams, pp. 74–77