A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

If a THING’S worth doing, it’s worth doing well
Job is sometimes used instead of thing.

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  1746 CHESTERFIELD Letter 9 Oct. (1932) III. 783 Care and application are necessary. .. In truth, whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. 1910 G. K. CHESTERTON What’s Wrong with World IV. xiv. The elegant female, drooping her ringlets over her water-colours,.. was maintaining the prime truth of woman, the universal mother: that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. 1915 H. G. WELLS Bealby V. ‘If a thing’s worth doing at all,’ said the professor.. ‘it’s worth doing well.’ 1980 Church Times 22 Feb. 12 ‘Things worth doing are worth doing well,’ was the motto at my first school. 1992 A. LAMBERT Rather English Marriage (1993) iii. 62 She’d never cared for dripdry, .. she’d rather see everything starched and crisply ironed. ‘If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well’ was Gracie’s motto. 2002 Washington Times 11 Mar. B5 Children should learn the value of completing tasks properly. The old saying, ‘A job worth doing is worth doing well,’ holds true. ■work
  

thing see also ALL good things must come to an end; ALL things are possible with God; ALL things come to those who wait; BAD things come in threes; the BEST things come in small packages; the BEST things in life are free; FACTS are stubborn things; FIRST things first; there’s no such thing as a FREE lunch; GIVE a thing, and take a thing, to wear the Devil’s gold ring; KEEP a thing seven years and you’ll always find a use for it; LITTLE things please little minds; there is MEASURE in all things; MODERATION in all things; things PAST cannot be recalled; to the PURE all things are pure; THREE things are not to be trusted; you can have TOO much of a good thing; if you WANT a thing done well, do it yourself; the WORTH of a thing is what it will bring.
When THINGS are at the worst they begin to mend

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  1582 G. WHETSTONE Heptameron of Civil Discourses vi. Thinges when they are at the worst, begin again to amend. The Feauer giueth place to health, when he hath brought the pacyent to deathes door. 1600 Sir John Oldcastle H1^V Patience good madame, things at worst will mend. 1623 J. WEBSTER Duchess of Malfi IV. i. Things being at the worst, begin to mend. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa III. liv. When things are at the worst they must mend. 1889 GISSING Nether World I. ii. When things are at the worst they begin to mend. .. It can’t be much longer before he gets work. 1928 M. SUMMERS Vampire V. If there be any truth in the old adage, that ‘When things are at the worst they must amend,’ the bettering of Spectral Melodrama is not distant. ■ optimism