دیر آی و درست آی

The saying weighs lateness against soundness and settles in favour of soundness. A late arrival, a delayed piece of work or a slow decision is acceptable on one condition: that what finally comes is whole and right. Delay is treated as the lesser fault beside a hurried result that turns out broken or mistaken.

The Persian word translated "right" also means sound, intact and correct, so the saying stretches from a traveller who arrives unharmed to a job that is done properly. It does not praise slowness for its own sake. The delay it accepts is one that buys a better outcome, and it gives no cover to lateness that brings nothing in return.

It fits a delay with a good reason, such as work checked before it is handed over, a journey taken carefully or a choice given more thought, and it can answer someone who complains about the wait. It is a poor defence of delay without care, because its whole condition is that what arrives late arrives right.