Rome wasn't built in a day
Language: English
Part of speech: proverb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹəʊm ˌwɒzənt ˈbɪlt‿ɪn‿ə ˈdeɪ/
ipa: /ˈɹoʊm ˌwʌzənt ˈbɪlt‿ɪn‿ə ˈdeɪ/
rhymes: -eɪ
Forms: form: Rome was not built in a day
Etymology: Probably a calque of Middle French Rome ne fut pas faite toute en un jour (literally “Rome was not made all in one day”); compare modern French Rome ne s'est pas faite en un jour.
Senses: examples: text: I know this project is a big undertaking, but you need to have patience and be hopeful. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
text: [O]ne daye or lytle tyme is not ynoughe for the acheuinge of a great matter. Which is al one with this in engliſhe: Rome was not buylt in one day.
ref: 1545 August 20 (Gregorian calendar), Erasmus, “Vna hirundo non facit ver [One swallow does not make it spring]”, in Richard Taverner, transl., Proverbes or Adagies Gathered out of the Chiliades of Erasmus […], new edition, London: Edwardus Whytchurche […]; to be sel […] by Wyllyam Telotson, →OCLC, folio xxv, verso:
text: Rome was not built in one day (quoth he), and yet stood / Till it was finisht, as some say, full fayre.
ref: 1546, John Heywood, chapter XI, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […], London: George Bell and Sons, […], published 1874, →OCLC, part I, pages 64–65:
text: The Reformation you haue made of the many and maine corruptions of the Romiſh Ch[urch] vve do ingenuouſly acknovvledge, and doe vvithall imbrace vvith you all the truths vvhich to our knovvledge you haue receiued in ſtead of them. But Rome vvas not built all in a day.
ref: 1610, Jos[eph] Hall, “Section XXV. What Separation England hath Made.”, in A Common Apologie of the Church of England: Against the Uniust Challenges of the Ouer-iust Sect, Commonly Called Brownists. […], London: […] [William Stansby] for Samuel Macham, […], →OCLC, marginal note, page 63:
text: […] Rome''' vvas not built in a day, nor is a Reformation in the true Lavv-ſenſe effectable preſently; […]
ref: 1663, Edward Waterhous[e], chapter XXIX, in Fortescutus Illustratus; or A Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Roycroft for Thomas Dicas […], →OCLC, page 375:
text: [Y]ou muſt lay your account vvith mounting by gradual ſteps to the ſummit of your fortune.—Rome vvas not built in a day,— […]
ref: 1748, [Tobias Smollett], “I Cultivate an Acquaintance with Two Noblemen […]”, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume II, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 173:
text: But, "Rome wasent built in a day," nor will one thump of the pate make a soldier.
ref: 1804, W[illiam] Dunlap, “The Wife of Two Husbands. A Drama, […]”, in The English and American Stage, volume III, New York, N.Y.: […] D. Longworth, […], published 1807, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
text: [T]hou must have patience. Rome was not built in a day—you cannot become used to your court-suit in a month's time, any more than when you changed your long coat for a doublet and hose; […]
ref: 1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 237–238:
text: Rome wasn't built in a day, nor, for that matter, Templetown 'ither, though it may be said to be a quick-growing place.
ref: 1823, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter I, in The Pioneers, or The Sources of the Susquehanna; […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Charles Wiley; […], →OCLC, page 17:
text: "As Rome," it was suggested, "had not been built in a day,["] so neither had Mademoiselle Gérard Moore's education been completed in a week, or by merely wishing to be clever. It was effort that had accomplished that great work: […]
ref: 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Coriolanus”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 123:
text: Rome wasn't built in a day and the path of black and white relationships in the South won't be solved overnight, either.
ref: 1960 March 7, George Todt, “George Todt’s opinion: Civil rights fate uncertain”, in Valley Times, home edition, volume 23, number 57, North Hollywood, Calif.: Robert N. Weed, →OCLC, page 14, column 6:
text: One fine day / We'll fly away / Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?
ref: 2000, Paul Godfrey, Ross Godfrey, Skye Edwards, “Rome Wasn't Built In a Day”, in Fragments of Freedom, performed by Morcheeba:
text: I feel like Rome wasn't built in a day, and I know that everybody is really impatient, but I know that with time things can be turned around.
ref: 2010 January 22, [unidentified questioner], “Remarks at a Town Hall Meeting and a Question-and-answer Session in Elyria, Ohio”, in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Barack Obama: 2010 […], book I (January 1 to June 30, 2010), Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration; United States Government Printing Office, published 2013, →OCLC, page 61, column 1:
text: I actually believe in some respects we may be in danger of working too quickly, simply to address that perception. As the ridiculously over-used cliché notes, Rome was not built in a day. What I do accept is that the 100-day project that saw the new city plan designed was done at breakneck speed. This was a phenomenally challenging time frame but absolutely crucial. For a community still suffering, still shocked, and literally still shaking, there clearly needed to be a plan put in place as quickly as possible.
ref: 2014 August, Roger Sutton, “A Blank Canvas for New Beginnings”, in Barnaby Bennett, James Dann, Emma Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, editors, Once in a Lifetime: City-building after Disaster in Christchurch, Christchurch: Freerange Press, →ISBN, page 54:
antonyms: Rome wasn't burned in a day
glosses: It takes a long time to create something complicated or impressive.
Derived terms: Rome wasn't burned in a day
Related terms: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
all roads lead to Rome
eat an elephant one bite at a time
haste makes waste
more haste, less speed
slow and steady wins the race