I'm trying to correct a translation from another language to English. The expression is "the good spoil clash the better, and the better the best" I've never heard anything like this. It supposedly originated in English but which country I don't know and there may be some error.

Does anyone know this expression? The meaning? The correct version?

Sounds like a strange one. What langauge are you starting with?

IN Japanese Daikichi wa kyo ni kaeru
The best luck comes back to bad luck
the best is often the enemy of the good
Das bessere ist der fiend des guten
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien

Thats about as close as I can get
Ken
(I'm addicted to Japanese expressions like that call kotowaza)

hmm, the only thing that comes to mind is an old rhyme: "good, better, best, never stop to rest, until the good is better, and the better, best." What language did it come from? I can help with French, Spanish, or Italian.

This is the one that came to my mind, too (before I saw HAK's response). I have a slightly different version . . . instead of "never stop to rest", we used "never let it rest". Good Luck.

Not sure how widely used it is but that seems to be getting to the point of a phrase a former co-worker used "Better is the enemy of good enough".

That's pretty much what I was thinking too.

I've heard the quote "Good is the enemy of best, and the best is the enemy of better". Not sure I really get it but it kind of sounds like what your quote might be getting at.

Thanks all. It does help. It is for a sermon and refers to the idea that what we think is for the best is not necessarily what God's idea of what is best is.

Ken, this is a Japanese pastor's recitation of an English saying that he heard. I'm starting with his English version. I'd share the Japanese version if it was all written in hiragana. At some point, if I have time I'll go back over the Japanese. I can't read more than 30 kanji. Not enough read anything with!

HI, I have a dictionary of thousands of these Japanese kotowaza expressions in Japanese. I would guess that this might be the pastors interpretation of something that may have originated from Buddhist or Shinto scriptures which was fairly common after 1870 when Christianity started to gain a foothold in the country. If you want to fax the Japanese 808-323-2245 or you can scan and email a jpeg.
I'll be glad to give it a try.
Take care
ken