# Rome wasn't built in a day

idiom · CEFR B2

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/rome-wasnt-built-in-a-day
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

It takes a long time to create something complicated or impressive.

## 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.

## 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.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.