"The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement"
About this Quote
Perfection is the kind of virtue that can quietly turn into sabotage, and George Will’s line lands because it treats that flip as a predictable human error, not a melodrama. As a journalist steeped in politics, sports, and the rhythms of argument, Will is pointing at a familiar pathology in public life: the demand for immaculate solutions becomes an all-purpose excuse to do nothing, or to keep purity-policing until the moment passes.
The intent is corrective, almost managerial: stop letting the ideal veto the better. But the subtext carries a sharper accusation. “Pursuit” frames perfection as an active obsession, a self-congratulating chase that feels principled while producing stagnation. “Often” is doing strategic work, too: it grants that high standards matter, then pivots to the real target - the perfectionist mindset that confuses flawlessness with seriousness.
In context, this is classic Will: small, polished sentence; big institutional implication. It fits a late-20th-century American argument about incrementalism, where legislative compromise is dismissed as moral failure and “good enough” is treated as cowardice. The line also reads as a rebuke to a media culture that rewards maximalist takes. If every proposal must solve everything, you get a politics of performative dissatisfaction.
What makes it work is its quiet inversion of values. Perfection sounds like ambition; improvement sounds like settling. Will swaps the prestige, insisting the brave act is iterative progress - the unglamorous labor of making things less bad, then less bad again.
The intent is corrective, almost managerial: stop letting the ideal veto the better. But the subtext carries a sharper accusation. “Pursuit” frames perfection as an active obsession, a self-congratulating chase that feels principled while producing stagnation. “Often” is doing strategic work, too: it grants that high standards matter, then pivots to the real target - the perfectionist mindset that confuses flawlessness with seriousness.
In context, this is classic Will: small, polished sentence; big institutional implication. It fits a late-20th-century American argument about incrementalism, where legislative compromise is dismissed as moral failure and “good enough” is treated as cowardice. The line also reads as a rebuke to a media culture that rewards maximalist takes. If every proposal must solve everything, you get a politics of performative dissatisfaction.
What makes it work is its quiet inversion of values. Perfection sounds like ambition; improvement sounds like settling. Will swaps the prestige, insisting the brave act is iterative progress - the unglamorous labor of making things less bad, then less bad again.
Quote Details
| Topic | Self-Improvement |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Perfectionism (Sarah J. Egan, Tracey D. Wade, Roz Sh..., 2016) modern compilationISBN: 9781462527649 · ID: jpmCCwAAQBAJ
Evidence:
... George Fisher Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.—W. Somerset Maugham The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement.—George Will No one is perfect . . . that's why pencils have erasers.—Author Unknown a life ... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Will, George. (2026, February 24). The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-pursuit-of-perfection-often-impedes-61535/
Chicago Style
Will, George. "The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement." FixQuotes. February 24, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-pursuit-of-perfection-often-impedes-61535/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement." FixQuotes, 24 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-pursuit-of-perfection-often-impedes-61535/. Accessed 8 Mar. 2026.
More Quotes by George
Add to List
