It is neither polite nor honest to be behind hand when one can just as
easily be on time. An artist solicited and obtained permission to paint
a portrait of Queen Victoria. The hour and place for the important
undertaking were named. Promptly the queen was present; but the artist
was not when the hour came. He arrived at length, but too late, for her
majesty had departed, leaving a message that she would not return. The
queen had kept her promise, but the artist had failed to keep his, and
thus lost the rare chance to win both fame and fortune.
--_T. J. MacMurray._
1608
_Lord Nelson used to say_: "I have always been a quarter of an hour
before my time, and it has made a man of me."
1609
_Horace Mann said_:--Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is
an act of dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person's money as his
time.
1610
To be unpunctual is sometimes considered a mark of consequence by little
great men, but the truly great have always thought differently.
1611
Purposes, like eggs, unless they be hatched into action, will run into
decay.
--_Smiles._
1612