Used in American business to end a discussion — specifically, a discussion about whether something is ready. The sentence casts perfectionism as an adversary, and the good-enough version as the thing under attack.
aphorisms
If at first you don’t succeed
Taught to American children as a rhyme, before they can evaluate whether it is true. Try, try again. The instruction is not to think harder. It is to go again.
The silver lining
Every cloud has a silver lining. When one door closes, another opens. Blessing in disguise. Make lemonade.
American English carries an unusually large stock of phrases whose function is to locate the gain inside a loss.
They are offered to other people, out loud, shortly after the bad news — which makes them a persuasive move rather than a private consolation.
Sewn twice holds better
Sewn twice holds better. A German proverb about redundancy, said approvingly. Alongside auf Nummer sicher gehen, to go on the safe number, and sicher ist sicher, safe is safe — which is a tautology, offered as a reason.
Late and complete
Lieber richtig als schnell — rather correct than fast.
Was lange währt, wird endlich gut — what takes long becomes good in the end.
Gründlichkeit geht vor Schnelligkeit — thoroughness before speed.
Pfusch am Bau — botched building work, the standard German phrase for what haste produces.
Four ordinary expressions, all approving delay and all naming the same alternative.
Praise in public, criticize in private
A standing American management maxim, taught in manager training and repeated in HR guidance: when there is something good to say, make sure others hear it; when there is a correction, handle it one to one.
The rule pairs the two halves deliberately. The same event either gets an audience or is kept from one, depending entirely on which direction it points.
Kant on planning
“Making plans is at times a luxuriant, boastful pursuit of the mind by which one gives oneself an air of creative genius, demanding what one cannot do, criticizing what one cannot do better, and suggesting what one does not know where it is to be found.”
“Pläne machen ist mehrmalen eine üppige, prahlerische Geistesbeschäftigung, dadurch man sich ein Ansehen von schöpferischem Genie gibt, indem man fordert, was man selbst nicht leisten, tadelt, was man doch nicht besser machen kann, und vorschlägt, wovon man selbst nicht weiß, wo es zu finden ist.”
Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804), German philosopher.
“more tense the nerves”
“Je gedehnter das Vorhaben, desto gespannter die Nerven.” Translation: The longer the project, the more tense the nerves.
Daniel Mühlemann (born 1959), nature photographer, aphorist and translator.
Nietsche on planning
“Making plans and making resolutions brings with it much good feeling, and he who has the strength to be nothing but a plan-maker all his life will be a very happy man. But he will occasionally have to rest from this activity, in that he executes a plan — and then comes the anger and disillusionment.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844 – 1900)
“Pläne machen und Vorsätze fassen bringt viel gute Empfindungen mit sich, und wer die Kraft hätte, sein ganzes Leben lang nichts als ein Pläne-Schmiedender zu sein, wäre ein sehr glücklicher Mensch: Aber er wird sich gelegentlich von dieser Tätigkeit ausruhen müssen, dadurch dass er einen Plan ausführt — und da kommt der Ärger und die Ernüchterung.”
goals of others
“Planlosigkeit erreicht spielend Ziele – andrer.” In English: “A lack of plan easily achieves goals – of others.”
Manfred Hinrich (1926 – 2015) – German philosopher, philologist, teacher, journalist, author of children’s songs, aphorist and writer.