More haste, less speed
This proverb seems at first sight to be a contradiction in terms; for `haste’ and 1speed’ mean the same, namely, swift movement. The saying would seem to mean, the more you hurry the less quickly you will go- which seems absurd.
However, the word `speed’ has got another shade of meaning, which has now almost gone out of use; but we find it still in such phrases, as `to speed the parting quest’ and God speed you!’ in such phrases, `to speed’ means to wish a person a quick and prosperous journey, or to give him success in what he undertakes. If we take `Speed’ here in this meaning, the proverb says-the more you hurry, the less successful you will be; the more anxious you are to finish a piece of work quickly, the less likely you are to do it well.
The proverb is therefore a warning against importance, and eagerness to get a task done quickly. To do a thing thoroughly and well takes time and thought and patience; and if we hurry matters in our impatience to get them over, we shall fail in our work.
This truth can be illustrated in several ways. I once saw an unfinished house that the local people called `smith’s folly’. It was sop called because a certain Mr. Smith began to build himself a fine mansion; but before he had got the walls half way up, his money was exhausted and he had to leave it as it was, a standing example of undertaking a thing without carefully calculating what it would cost. If he had not been in too great a hurry to begin before counting the cost, he might have succeeded in building and finishing a less pretentious house.
It is a great mistake to make important decisions in a hurry. We should wait and think the matter over thoroughly, and not decide until minds are quite clear. Second thoughts are the best of our life. `Marry in haste, repent are at leisure.’
So in learning and education, hurry defeats its own object. Students sometimes want to fly before they can walk; to get degrees before they are fit for the Matriculation examination. Hurry in learning leads to scamp lessons, and superficial knowledge. A thorough education must always be a slow and patient business.
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