While I find sites making that alleged claim, I'm having a hard time tracking down its veracity. I've found several examples of it used in the 1800s, like: 1)

While I find sites making that alleged claim, I'm having a hard time tracking down its veracity. I've found several examples of it used in the 1800s, like: 1) The Salt-Cellars (1889) - https://archive.org/details/saltcellarsbein02spurgoog/page/n39/mode/2up?q=jack https://archive.org/details/saltcellarsbein02spurgoog/page/n... > A man of many professions has but few profits. / A man of many trades begs his bread on Sunday. / A man of many trades lives on short commons. > He is so deficient and inefficient that he never gets on. Being Jack-of -all-trades he is master of none, and can do nothing properly. As soon as he is known his customers are gone. 2) The English review, or, An abstract of English and foreign literature, v 9, (1788) - https://archive.org/details/englishreviewor11unkngoog/page/310/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/englishreviewor11unkngoog/page/3... > If every man take the advice of every one of these benevolent essayists, every man, according to the proverb, will become a Jack of all trades but master of none. 3) An impartial and comprehensive view of the present state of Great Britain, containing ... [rest of the very long title omitted] (1797) - https://archive.org/details/impartialcompreh00keituoft/page/68/mode/2up?q=trades https://archive.org/details/impartialcompreh00keituoft/page/... > Instead of being Jack of all trades, but master of none, every one of John's servants became very expert at his particular employment. He had now the best ploughs, carts and wagons in all the country, and also the best ploughmen and wagoners. His weavers manufactured his wool into the finest cloth; and John derived great advantages from their industry. None of them had the longer version you listed, and that last example implies it's better to have servants who are each a master of one (and often different ones) than Jacks-of-all-trades.