We use perturbation theory to construct perfect lattice actions for fe
rmions and gauge fields by blocking directly from the continuum. When
one uses a renormalization group transformation that preserves chiral
symmetry the resulting lattice action for massless fermions is chirall
y symmetric but nonlocal. When the renormalisation group transformatio
n breaks chiral symmetry the lattice action becomes local but chiral s
ymmetry is explicitly broken. In particular, starting with a chiral ga
uge theory in the continuum one either obtains a lattice theory which
is gauge invariant but nonlocal, or a local theory with explicitly bro
ken gauge invariance. In both cases the spectrum of the lattice theory
is identical with the one of the continuum and the anomaly is correct
ly reproduced. We also apply our techniques to vector-like theories. I
n particular we propose a new renormalization group transformation for
QCD and we optimize its parameters for locality of the perfect action
.