rather if he had said he who takes his time to fulfill his needs is more deserving and he who is hasty to miss out on his needs is more deserving he would have done justice to the meaning even though the first statement is measured and the second is prose. had he not derived the word hasty from haste he would not have paired it with the word slow. what he erred in should have been their saying how often haste brings slowness. so he made the speech that came out an answer to what arises from the cause like the speech that came out extemporaneously and its owner made it a general example. so if you call the work hasty and slow then judge slowness by the abundance of loss and to the same extent of inability and judge haste by the scarcity of success and to the same extent of laziness.
بل لو قال والمتأني بدرك حاجاته أحق، والمستعجل بفوت حاجاته أخلق، لكان قد وفى المعنى حقه، وإن كان القول الأول موزونا والثاني منثورا. ولولا أنه اشتق المستعجل من العجلة لما قرنه بالمتأني. وينبغي أن يكون الذي غلطه قولهم رب عجلة تهب ريثا . فجعل الكلام الذي خرج جوابا عند ما يعرض من السبب، كالكلام الذي خرج ارتجالا، وجعله صاحبه مثلا عاما. فإذا سميت العمل عجلة وريثا فاقض على الريث بكثرة الفوت، وبقدر ذلك من العجز، وعلى العجلة بقلة النجح، وبقدر ذلك من الخرق.