ProverbMorality
German origin
German originGottes Mühlen mahlen langsam, aber sicher
Meaning: Wrongdoing is punished in the end, even if justice takes its time.
Literally: God's mills grind slowly, but surely
Example: “Nach zwanzig Jahren wurde der Betrug doch noch aufgedeckt. Gottes Mühlen mahlen langsam, aber sicher.” — The fraud came to light after twenty years: the wheels of justice turn slowly.
Equivalents in English, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, 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)
Russian: Бог правду видит, да не скоро скажет (Bog pravdu vidit, da ne skoro skazhet) (literally: God sees the truth but doesn't tell it soon)
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: The mill is ancient: the Greek writer Sextus Empiricus, in the 2nd or 3rd century, quotes a line saying the mills of the gods grind late but grind fine. Friedrich von Logau gave it a German form in his epigrams of 1654, and Longfellow translated Logau's couplet as "Retribution."
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