ProverbWisdom
Arabic origin
Arabic originالعجلة من الشيطان (Al-ʿajala min ash-shayṭān)
Meaning: Acting in a hurry leads to mistakes.
Literally: Haste is from the devil
Example: “لا تتسرع في الرد على الرسالة. العجلة من الشيطان.” — Don't rush to answer the message: haste makes waste.
Equivalents in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, and 7 more languages
English: Haste makes waste
French: Qui se hâte trop se fourvoie (literally: Whoever hurries too much goes astray)
Spanish: Las prisas son malas consejeras (literally: Haste is a bad advisor)
Japanese: 急いては事を仕損じる (Seite wa koto wo shisonjiru) (literally: If you hurry, you'll mess things up)
German: Eile mit Weile (literally: Hurry with leisure)
Italian: La gatta frettolosa fece i gattini ciechi (literally: The hasty cat gave birth to blind kittens)
Portuguese: A pressa é inimiga da perfeição (literally: Haste is the enemy of perfection)
Dutch: Haastige spoed is zelden goed (literally: Hasty speed is seldom good)
Russian: Поспешишь — людей насмешишь (Pospeshish' — lyudey nasmeshish') (literally: Hurry and you'll make people laugh)
Polish: Co nagle, to po diable (literally: What's done in haste is the devil's work)
Chinese: 欲速则不达 (Yù sù zé bù dá) (literally: Want speed and you won't arrive)
Turkish: Acele işe şeytan karışır (literally: The devil meddles in hasty work)
Origin: It comes from a hadith in al-Tirmidhi's collection: deliberation is from God, haste is from the devil. Al-Tirmidhi himself classed the report as weakly attested.
Explore another collection: Idioms
Colorful expressions from dozens of languages, with their word-for-word translations.
- القرد بعين أمه غزال (al-qird bi-ʿayn ummihi ghazāl) Parents see their children as beautiful no matter what.
- اللي ما يعرف الصقر يشويه (illi ma yaʿrif al-ṣaqr yishwīh) Failing to recognize something valuable and destroying it.
- على قد لحافك مد رجليك (ʿalā qadd liḥāfik midd rijlayk) Live within your means.
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