Idiom
Rome wasn't built in a day
Meaning
It takes a long time to create something complicated or impressive.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Don't worry, your English is improving. Rome wasn't built in a day.”
“Six months in, the shop was still losing money, but Rome wasn't built in a day and the regulars were multiplying.”
“Investors were told that Rome wasn't built in a day, which is true, and also the sort of thing people say when they would rather not discuss the timeline in any more detail than that.”
Examples
simple
“Don't worry, your English is improving. Rome wasn't built in a day.”
contextual
“Six months in, the shop was still losing money, but Rome wasn't built in a day and the regulars were multiplying.”
complex
“Investors were told that Rome wasn't built in a day, which is true, and also the sort of thing people say when they would rather not discuss the timeline in any more detail than that.”
Origin
Despite naming the city, the proverb is medieval French rather than ancient Roman. Its earliest known form — "Rome ne fu[t] pas faite toute en un jour" ("Rome wasn't made all in one day") — appears in a collection of French verse, Li Proverbe au Vilain, written around 1190.
It reached English centuries later through translators and proverb-collectors: Richard Taverner used a version in his 1539 rendering of Erasmus's Adagia, and John Heywood printed it in his 1546 proverb book as "Rome was not bylt on a daie."
Even Queen Elizabeth I drew on it — in Latin, "Roma uno die non est condita" — during a 1563 address at Cambridge, making the point that her reign would need time to prove itself.
Key words
Related idioms
Stories
Rome the City · See all Roman origin
The roads, the Forum, and the city that took centuries to build.
all roads lead to Rome — Different paths can take one to the same goal.
when in Rome, do as the Romans do — It is wise to adapt to the circumstances; it is wise to follow common custom.
Forum — a place where people can share ideas and talk about specific topics. In the digital world, it is a website where you can post messages and reply to others.
vox populi — The opinion of ordinary people, taken as a verdict.
- Level
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Updated