Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

The saying argues that repetition alone is not enough to produce excellence: if you rehearse mistakes, you entrench them. “Perfect practice” implies deliberate, correct, and disciplined rehearsal—attention to fundamentals, feedback, and correction—so that what becomes habitual under pressure is the right technique. The line is often invoked in sports, music, and professional training to stress quality over quantity and to justify coaching, standards, and review. Even if “perfect” is aspirational, the practical point is that practice should be structured and mindful, not merely frequent, because habits formed in training tend to surface in competition or real-world performance.