In Aesop's Own Words
“Slow but steady wins the race.”
— Aesop, The Hare and the Tortoise
This line is the moral of one of the best-known fables attributed to Aesop, in which a boastful, speedy hare naps mid-race and loses to a plodding tortoise who never stops. The story is about how overconfidence and distraction can beat natural speed, and how consistent effort tends to arrive first. It still fits today because most of our rushing, whether in traffic, in lines, or in plans, is the hare's mistake all over again.
Who Was Aesop?
Aesop is the legendary Greek storyteller traditionally said to have lived in the 6th century BC. Ancient writers describe him as having been enslaved before he gained his freedom, though the details of his life are hard to pin down. His fables, short animal tales ending in a moral, were passed along by word of mouth and collected by later writers in Greek and Latin. They have been retold for more than two thousand years, in nurseries and boardrooms alike, because a talking tortoise teaches faster than a lecture.
Try This Today
Next time you shop, choose one checkout line using a single rule, like the fewest carts or the shortest items, and commit to it. Do not change lanes, even once. While you wait, take three slow breaths and notice what the other lines are actually doing. Afterward, jot down whether the switching you skipped would really have saved you any time.
Your Turn
Where else in your week do you jump to the faster-looking option, and what does that hurrying actually cost you?
Letters are composites written by the Lifted Words editors. Replies are written in the spirit of each thinker; the quote in the blue box is their own.