gutta cavat lapidem
gutta cavat lapidem
Meaning
- idiomaticlittle strokes fell great oaks, slow and steady wins the race
gutta cavat lapidem, consumitur anulus usu
the drop bores the rock, the ring is worn out by use12 CE – 13 CE, Ovidius, Epistulae ex Ponto 4.10.5
Origins
Literally, “the water drop bores through the rock”. Perhaps a loose calque of Ancient Greek πέτρην κοιλαίνει ῥανὶς ὕδατος ἐνδελεχείῃ (pétrēn koilaínei rhanìs húdatos endelekheíēi), a verse by fifth-century-BCE poet Choerilus of Samos. Though the exact quoted words are first found in Ovid, the idea appears twice in Lucretius already: c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 4.1286–1287: nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis / umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa? Don't you see, besides, how drops of water falling down against the stones at last bore through the stones?
Descendants
- Germansteter Tropfen höhlt den Stein
- Portugueseágua mole em pedra dura tanto bate até que fura
- Polishkropla drąży skałę
- Russianка́пля ка́мень то́чит