The proverb is now commonly used in allusion to quot. 1887. 1876 Prime Minister IV. viii. We know that power does corrupt, and that we cannot trust kings to have loving hearts. 1887 Letter in Life & Letters of Mandel Creighton (1904) I. xiii. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority. 1957 Testament of Experience II . ix. The processes by which ‘power corrupts’ are perhaps inevitable. 1979 Better Angels IV . xii. He doesn't know that power corrupts; there's nothing dark in him. 1997 Washington Times 2 June A15 And we know from the case of the conservatives that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. power
1553 Art of Rhetoric 3 Eloquence was vsed, and through practise made parfect. 1599 Two Angry Women of Abington l. 913 Forsooth as vse makes perfectnes, so seldome seene is soone forgotten. 1761 Diary (1961) I. 192 Practice makes perfect. 1863 Hard Cash III. iv. He lighted seven fires, skillfully on the whole, for practice makes perfect. 1979 Shikasta 185 It is like playing the piano or riding a bicycle. Practice makes perfect. 1998 Washington Times 13 Jan. E2 Practice makes perfect. How many times have parents uttered those words to encourage their children …? diligence