proverb · Words worth keeping
Great Haste Makes Great Waste.
Great Haste Makes Great Waste.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The rhyme makes great haste produce great waste. It intensifies a warning about rushing through work without enough care.
What the words are saying
The repeated great enlarges both the action and its imagined consequence. A qualified application can compare speed with avoidable rework, while recognising tasks that need timely action. The phrase does not establish that fast work always fails or slow work is always careful.
Everyday example
A team checks the part most vulnerable to error before sending a hurried deliverable.
When to use it
Use it to discuss appropriate care when working quickly.
What it does not mean
Speed alone does not establish waste, and delay can also cause problems.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 162; PDF page 27
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.