Quick but Steady Wins the Race

The Roman emperor Augustus is reported by the biographer Suetonius to have been fond of the saying festina lente, which means to make haste slowly. Suetonius records it as a favourite maxim, one that joins two qualities usually thought to pull apart. The fable of the tortoise and the hare, credited to Aesop, teaches that the plodder wins when the fast runner is careless. The topic goes a step further. It praises the competitor who is both quick and steady, and says that he, not the tortoise, is the one who wins the race.

The three words of the phrase each carry a demand. To be quick is to act promptly, without delay, and to use time well. To be steady is to keep a regular pace, to continue without wavering, to avoid both haste and fits of idleness. And to win the race, a long contest rather than a dash, requires finishing. The proverb is therefore about endurance with efficiency, and it assumes that the course is long.

Steadiness matters because most worthwhile goals take time. The power of regular effort is the power of compounding. A student who studies a few hours every day for a year learns more than one who studies twenty hours before an examination and then collapses. An economy that grows at seven per cent a year doubles its output in about ten years, and the difference between seven and four per cent over a generation is the difference between rich and poor. China grew at close to ten per cent a year for three decades after 1978 and became the world's second largest economy, and economists attribute the result as much to the consistency of policy as to its speed.

Sprints that cannot be sustained often end in failure. The economists Lant Pritchett and others have found that many developing countries enjoy brief episodes of rapid growth that fade, because they were driven by commodity booms or borrowed money and not by durable institutions. Athletes who train too hard suffer injury. Entrepreneurs who expand too fast run out of cash. Armies that advance faster than their supplies are stranded. The hare of the fable lost not because he was fast but because he stopped.

The hare of the fable lost not because he was fast but because he stopped.

The quality of speed deserves a defence, however, because slowness has costs too. Delay is a common failing in Indian public life. Projects wait years for clearances, and costs rise with each year, as many railway and highway projects show. Cases wait decades in courts. A person who delays a decision may find that the opportunity has gone. In an age of fast communication and competition, the one who is slow may be left behind. The Delhi Metro, whose first line opened in December 2002 under the direction of E. Sreedharan, was completed ahead of schedule and within its budget, and it proved that a public project could be both fast and careful. In September 2014 the Mars Orbiter Mission reached the planet's orbit on India's first attempt, at a cost of about 450 crore rupees, achieved by a team that worked to a tight schedule with disciplined testing.

Psychology gives the idea support. Daniel Kahneman distinguishes a fast, intuitive mode of thought from a slow, deliberate one. Experts can use the first well in their own field, but in unfamiliar matters, quick judgement leads to error. Angela Duckworth's research on grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long term goals, found that sustained effort predicted success among cadets at West Point and finalists in spelling competitions better than talent alone. Quickness of learning and steadiness of effort are separate gifts, and winners tend to have the second.

Knowing when to be quick and when to be steady is the real art. In an emergency, such as a flood or a heart attack, speed saves lives, and the first hour is critical. In writing a constitution, planning a city or raising a child, haste produces regret. The Constituent Assembly took nearly three years to complete India's Constitution, and the care it took is part of the reason the document has lasted. A reformer who rushes a law through without consultation, as in the case of laws that were later withdrawn, may lose more time than he saved.

For individuals the lesson is practical. Set a pace that can be maintained, since a pace that cannot be maintained is not a pace. Make progress daily, even in small amounts. Do not delay what can be done now, and do not hurry what cannot be done well. Rest is part of the race, as the athlete knows, because those who never rest lose their steadiness. The same lesson applies to institutions, which need regular routines and not just campaigns, and to nations, which need both reform and patience.

Culture plays a part too. Many societies admire the dramatic burst, the overnight success and the quick fix, and neglect the quiet routine that actually produces results. Stories of great achievers, if told honestly, usually reveal years of unremarkable practice. The violinist, the scientist and the long distance runner all show the same pattern. A person who learns to enjoy the routine, and not only the finish, is better placed to keep going when the early excitement has gone, and that is where most races are decided.

There is a caution against taking steadiness as an excuse for slowness. Some officials and institutions describe their delay as prudence, though it is only fear of responsibility. True steadiness is a rhythm of regular progress, with milestones that are met, and it can be measured. A project that is steady but never finishes has not won anything. The proverb asks for both qualities together, and it is the combination that is rare.

The fable's tortoise would still win against a hare that slept. It would lose to a hare that did not. The topic's claim is that in life, the second contest is the one that matters, and that the winner will be the one who has learnt to be fast without being hurried. Whether that is a quality that can be taught, or whether it is a temperament that some are born with and others spend their lives trying to acquire, is a question that the race never answers.