let the perfect be the enemy of the good

present singular third person lets the perfect be the enemy of the good · participle present letting the perfect be the enemy of the good

1. idiomaticTo insist on the total realization of a goal and reject any compromise, thereby decreasing the chance of achieving even a part of that goal.

   But we shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

   2007, Chris Brian, The Politics Show, Wales regional report

   3 more examples

   More data and more analyses will provide better information for the future, but we dare not let “the perfect be the enemy of the good”.

   1960: Macdonald College, The Macdonald Farm Journal, volumes 21–22, page 7 (R. J. Cooke)

   Of course they are far from perfect, of course we are more than ready to welcome constructive improvements to them, but I beg Parliament and also Member Governments not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

   1973, Official journal of the European Communities, numbers 165-169, page 161

   Incremental reform can move us forward and can improve the plight of the poor. I hope we do not let “the perfect be the enemy of the good” in welfare reform.

   1978, Welfare Reform Proposals: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Public Assistance of the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, Second Session, volume 3, United States Government Printing Office, page 572