constant dropping wears away a stone

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constant dropping wears away a stone primarily used to mean that persistence will achieve a difficult or unlikely objective (in the US, continual is often used for constant). The saying is recorded from the mid 13th century, but a similar thought is found in classical Greek, in the Fragments of Choeriuls of Samos, ‘with persistence a drop of water hollows out the stone’, and in Latin, in the Elegies of Tibullus, ‘length of time eats away stones with soft water.’

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constant dropping wears away a stone

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