We must learn to walk before we can run

We must learn to walk before we can run.

Prov. You must master a basic skill before you are able to learn more complex things. Maria wanted to make a tailored jacket as her first sewing project, but her mother convinced her that she should make something much simpler; she would have to learn to walk before she could run.
See also: before, can, learn, must, run, walk, we
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, there's
  • Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
  • eye for an eye
  • no accounting for tastes, there is no
  • thing you don't want is dear at any price
  • Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride to the devil
  • mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small
  • butter wouldn't melt (in his/her mouth), looks as if
  • One's bark is worse than bite
  • if the truth were known