# better is the enemy of good **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266 "2006-01-10T03:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![inquiring\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@inquiring\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inquiring_mind)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/1 "2006-01-10T03:48:27Z")
What is your interpretation of the phrase “the better is the enemy of the good”? Can you provide an example? ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/2 "2006-01-10T04:12:40Z")
> [@inquiring\_mind](#): > > What is your interpretation of the phrase “the better is the enemy of the good”? Can you provide an example? I’ve always heard it as “the _perfect_ is the enemy of the good.” Meaning, you’ll do a better job if you don’t worry so much about being perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/3 "2006-01-10T04:26:59Z")
I’ve heard it as “good is the enemy of great”, i.e. settling for a mediocre result discourages one from trying for an extraordinary world-changing result. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/4 "2006-01-10T04:44:18Z")
I’ve heard it in the form given by **inquiring\_mind**. I’ve taken it to refer to people who won’t complete a basic job because they’re not happy with the result and want to keep “improving” it e.g. I ask one of my staff to write a summary report on some data. Most people would turn it around in a day with 2-3 pages of basic analysis. The “better is the enemy of good” type is still working on it two weeks later, having expanded it into a 30 page \*magnum opus \* with endless graphs, statistical references and research that go way beyond what is necessary to fulfil the original request. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/5 "2006-01-10T05:57:42Z")
I’ve heard it the way **tim\_314** did, “The perfect being the enemy of the good.” The gist being that some will refuse to implement a partial solution to problems since some problem will still remain…but this refusal results in _no_ part of the problem getting addressed, because they ultimately fail to find a resolution that solves everything. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/6 "2006-01-10T06:03:30Z")
Well, according to Google: “the perfect is the enemy of the good” -\> 21,600 hits “the better is the enemy of the good” -\> 300 hits “good is the enemy of great” -\> 19,700 hits Looks like the first one is the more common one, at least as measured by the Google ‘zeitgeist’. I’ve always heard it in that form, and understood it to mean that perfectionism can prevent you from getting _anything_ done - a form of “analysis paralysis”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/7 "2006-01-10T12:45:18Z")
I’ve taken it to mean that it refers to folks who keep tinkering with an object or work of art to keep trying to get it better. This search for the “better” is the enemy of a “good” completed object. As many artists and writers say, “a work is never “done”” – you can always screw around with it. One true case of this, to my mind, is John Harrison, who built the super-accurate clock needed for calculating one’s position aboard ships in the 18th century. His story is told in Dava Sobel’s **Longitude**. This guy built a succession of _five_ clocks , each of which improved on the predecessor, and each of which, arguably, could have won the competition set up by the British goveernment to develop an accurate means of measurement. It took him _decades_. One of my former bosses asked about the origin of the phrase. I stumbled across a reference in **The Annotated Edgar Allen Poe** where he cites it in French. The note said that the earliest known use is in French, and that it’s quite old, and that it seems to be an old saying not associated with any particular work. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/8 "2006-01-10T14:43:12Z")
_Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien_. I would translate this as “the best is the enemy of the adequate.” Meaning, in my mind, that a focus on perfection is an impediment to getting things accomplished to an adequate standard. An indictment of perfectionism, in other words. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/9 "2006-01-10T14:54:38Z")
> [@inquiring\_mind](#): > > What is your interpretation of the phrase “the better is the enemy of the good”? Can you provide an example? I would interpret that to mean that just because something was made better than it was, that does not mean it is good yet. Someone might stop making it better, because it’s already better, but that’s bad because it isn’t quite good yet. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/10 "2006-01-10T15:13:41Z")
I thought the Good was the enemy of the Bad. And the Ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/11 "2006-01-10T16:16:27Z")
As a musician, I find a whole different meaning in _“the perfect is the enemy of the good”_ – because in today’s music world, technically polished performers tend to drive out those who are “merely” talented or original. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-is-the-enemy-of-good/339266/12 "2006-01-10T17:34:54Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > _Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien_. I would translate this as “the best is the enemy of the adequate.” Meaning, in my mind, that a focus on perfection is an impediment to getting things accomplished to an adequate standard. An indictment of perfectionism, in other words. Actually, I’ve come to realize that the best translation is “Git 'r done.”