Rome was not built in a day

English

Proverb

Rome was not built in a day

1. Alternative form of Rome wasn't built in a day
   • 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:

     [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.

   • 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:

     Rome was not built in one day (quoth he), and yet stood / Till it was finisht, as some say, full fayre.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 1663, Edward Waterhous [i.e., Edward Waterhouse], 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:

     […] Rome vvas not built in a day, nor is a Reformation in the true Lavv-ſenſe effectable preſently; […]

   • 1748, [Tobias Smollett], “I Cultivate an Acquaintance with Two Noblemen […]”, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume II, London: […] [William Strahan] for J. Osborn […], →OCLC, page 173:

     [Y]ou muſt lay your account vvith mounting by gradual ſteps to the ſummit of your fortune.—Rome vvas not built in a day,— […]

   • 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:

     [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; […]

   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “The First Blue-stocking”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 123:

     "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: […]

   • 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:

     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.