- English translation
Every delay carries some hidden good.
- Literal wording
Every delay, and in it there is good.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying teaches patience toward setbacks in timing. When something we want arrives late or is pushed back, the proverb invites us to suspect that the wait itself may be working in our favor, steering events toward a better result than haste would have produced.
It also carries a note of trust in a larger, often providential order of things. Its sweeping 'every delay' works as consolation rather than a literal claim that postponement always helps; frustration is reframed as acceptance, the delay treated as something that may later prove wiser or more fortunate.
- When it is used
Use it to console someone, or yourself, when a plan, trip, marriage, or deal is held up or postponed. It suggests the hold-up may spare trouble or open a better outcome, so it suits gentle reassurance after an annoying setback.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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