Bad workman always blames his tools

Origin of: Bad workman always blames his tools

Bad workman always blames his tools

This is a very old proverb, which is first cited in French from the 13th century in the form of “a bad workman can never find a good tool”. The expression very often appears in the form of whatever tradesman or worker that happens to be mentioned, e.g. blacksmith, carpenter, etc. Whatever the profession, if bad or incompetent. they all blamed their tools. These alternative formats were first cited in English from the 1600s.