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.
