MACBETH: If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 1, sc. 7, l. 1ff (1.7.1-2) (1606)
(Source)
Quotations about:
swift
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Whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big for him.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #190 (20 Aug 1749)
(Source)
It may be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong — but that’s the way to bet.
Hugh E. Keough (1864-1912) Canadian-American sports journalist
(Attributed)
Variants:Also attributed to Damon Runyon, Franklin Pierce Adams, Grantland Rice, and Burns Mantle, all of of whom in turn credited Keough. The saying itself, a take-off on Ecclesiastes 9:11, has a number of antecedents: see here for more background.
- "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but the betting is best that way."
- "To be sure the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but it is ninety-nine times in a hundred."