APAD: He who hesitates is lost.

Meaning:

Action leads to success; delay/self-doubt does not

 

Background:

Although it seems likely that the idea expressed in this idiom is older, the

modern-day expression is an adaptation of a line in Joseph Addison's 1712 play

Cato: "The woman that deliberates is lost."

 

    Marcia.

    I dare not think he will: but if he should —

    Why wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer

    Imaginary ills, and fancied tortures?

    I hear the sound of feet! they march this way!

    Let us retire, and try if we can drown

    Each softer thought in sense of present danger.

    When love once pleas admission to our hearts

    (In spite of all the virtue we can boast)

    The woman that deliberates is lost.

 

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In jiu-jitsu, a new move is first demoed and drilled. But that's only an

introduction, a preliminary idea of what could be done in a situation. In

sparring, one often has to check the details, those that he can remember, before

trying to execute. He needs time to deliberate, but chance won't wait. The

higher the level of his opponent, the less likely he will succeed.

 

Through years and countless mistakes, a jiujideiro's body slowly sharpens its

own intelligence and responds to a situation automatically and faster than his

mind ever can. In sparring, he stops thinking. When an opportunity appears, he

doesn't hesitate.