French origin13th c.A bad workman always blames his tools
Meaning: Incompetent people blame external factors for their failures instead of taking responsibility.
Example: “He says the oven is to blame for the burned bread, but a bad workman blames his tools.”
Origin: The idea was already proverbial in medieval French: a late 13th-century saying runs mauvés ouvriers ne trouvera ja bon outil, a bad workman will never find a good tool. English passed through several versions before settling on the modern wording. The point is that the fault usually lies in the hand, not the hammer.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Portuguese, and 3 more languages
French: Les mauvais ouvriers ont toujours de mauvais outils (literally: Bad workers always have bad tools)
Spanish: El mal escribano le echa la culpa a la pluma (literally: The bad scribe blames the pen)
Japanese: 弘法筆を選ばず (Kōbō fude wo erabazu) (literally: Kōbō does not choose his brush)
German: Wenn der Reiter nichts taugt, ist das Pferd schuld (literally: When the rider is no good, the horse gets the blame)
Portuguese: O mau artífice culpa a ferramenta (literally: The bad craftsman blames the tool)
Dutch: Een kwaad werkman vindt nooit goed gereedschap (literally: A bad workman never finds good tools)
Russian: Нечего на зеркало пенять, коли рожа крива (Nechego na zerkalo penyat', koli rozha kriva) (literally: Don't blame the mirror if your face is crooked)
Polish: Złej baletnicy przeszkadza i rąbek u spódnicy (literally: A bad ballerina is hindered even by the hem of her skirt)
On the map
Someone else’s fault
The same idea in 17 versions, colored by the picture each one uses. Each country shows the version in its main language.
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8 more languages on the map
- Crude
Chinese (Lā bù chū shǐ lái lài máokēng)“Can't poop, so blame the latrine”Source: Wiktionary; MandarinBanana (variant 拉不出屎来怨茅房) 
Bengali (Nachte na janle uthan baka)“Can't dance, so the yard must be slanted”Source: Satt Academy (Bangladesh exam reference); Wiktionary
Nepali (Nachna najanne aangan tedo)“Can't dance, so the courtyard is crooked”Source: Wiktionary; Sublearn
Persian (Arus nemitavānest beraqsad, migoft zamin kaj ast)“The bride couldn't dance, so she said the floor was crooked”Source: Setare; Delgarm; LanGeek
Arabic (Gulf, Levant) (Illi mā yaʿrif yurguṣ yigūl al-arḍ ʿawja)“Whoever can't dance says the floor is crooked”Source: Mental Floss, “10 dance-related sayings” (after A World of Wisdom); Mytour
Thai (Ram mai di thot pi thot klong)“Dance badly, blame the pipe and the drum”Source: Northern Illinois University SEAsite (Thai proverbs); Thai Post
Vietnamese “Clumsy at dancing, blames the uneven ground”Source: VietJack; Wiktionary
Indonesian “An ugly face, so the mirror gets smashed”Source: KBBI, Indonesia's official dictionary; Omniglot
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