ProverbMoralityRussian origin

Бог правду видит, да не скоро скажет (Bog pravdu vidit, da ne skoro skazhet)

Meaning: The truth comes out and justice is done in the end, though it may take a long time.

Literally: God sees the truth but doesn't tell it soon

Example: “Через двадцать лет настоящего вора всё-таки нашли. Бог правду видит, да не скоро скажет.” — Twenty years later the real thief was found after all: the wheels of justice turn slowly.

Equivalents in English, Spanish, Japanese, German, Polish, and Chinese

  • English: The wheels of justice turn slowly
  • Spanish: La justicia tarda pero llega (literally: Justice is slow but it arrives)
  • Japanese: 天網恢恢疎にして漏らさず (Tenmō kaikai so ni shite morasazu) (literally: Heaven's net is wide, but nothing escapes it)
  • German: Gottes Mühlen mahlen langsam, aber sicher (literally: God's mills grind slowly, but surely)
  • Polish: Pan Bóg nierychliwy, ale sprawiedliwy (literally: The Lord is slow, but just)
  • Chinese: 天网恢恢,疏而不漏 (Tiān wǎng huīhuī, shū ér bú lòu) (literally: Heaven's net is wide; loose, yet nothing slips through)

Origin: Leo Tolstoy used it as the title of his 1872 story about a merchant sent to Siberia for a murder he did not commit, known in English as "God Sees the Truth, But Waits."

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