a bad workman blames his tools someone who has done something badly will seek to lay the blame on the equipment rather than admit to their own lack of skill. proverb

☞ A similar 13th-century French proverb observed mauveés ovriers ne trovera ja bon hostill, 'bad workmen will never find a good tool', and variants of this early saying can be found in English until the mid 19th century until the emergence of the modern version.