Help with a french translation

December 16, 2008 8:10 PM

Does anyone know the original french to this quote, "perfection is a lot of little things done well"?

I'd like to find the original french to the quote "perfection is a lot of little things done well" I read of it in Marco Pierre White's autobiography. He quotes it from Ferdinand Point's Ma Gastronomie. Bonus points if your google-fu can procure evidence, awesome if you really know your french. thanks all!

posted by ecks to grab bag (7 comments total)

I find this on one website, but it isn't ascribed:

Les petites choses font la perfection et la perfection n’est pas une petite affaire.

(Small things make for perfection, but perfection is no small thing.)
posted by zadcat at 8:17 PM on December 16, 2008

What I've found so far is "le succès est une somme de petites choses mises au point,"-- which translates to "success is the sum of little things done well." However, it only shows up on three websites [1] [2] [3], none of which look terribly official. (His name is "Fernand," not "Ferdinand," by the way.)
posted by cimton at 8:53 PM on December 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Ok, I've spent way too much time on this..... However.

This store is listed (by the B&N website) as having a copy of the latest translation of Ma Gastronomie. So, at least, you could leaf through it.

(I believe is near you, ecks. I don't really have a sense of distances in Boston)

Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Prudential Center
617-247-6959

Address:
Prudential Center
800 Boylston Street Suite 179
Boston, MA 02199
posted by oddman at 9:59 PM on December 16, 2008

This is odd: "Ma Gastronomie" wasn't published until 1969.

But the only book on google book search that comes up for cimton's version (also the only one I could find) is from 1940.
posted by nat at 10:28 PM on December 16, 2008

Although it does appear that the text of Ma Gastronomie, in its various versions, isn't (yet?) searchable. Still wierd.
posted by nat at 10:36 PM on December 16, 2008

I found a another version in english
"Success is the sum of a lot of small things done correctly"

anyway the correct french quotation seems to be the following :

"Le succès est une somme de petites choses mises au point"

source
posted by Jaloux Saboteur at 5:21 AM on December 17, 2008

thank you all for your time and helpfulness!
posted by ecks at 7:19 AM on December 17, 2008