The best-laid plans, the most important affairs, the fortunes of individuals, the weal of nations, honor, life itself, are daily sacrificed because somebody is “behind time.” There are men who always fail in whatever they undertake simply because they are “behind time.” There are others who put off reformation year by year, till death seizes them; and they perish unrepentant, because for ever “behind time.” Five minutes in a crisis is worth years. It is but a little period, yet it has often saved a fortune or redeemed a people. If there is one virtue that should be cultivated more than another by him who would succeed in life, it is punctuality; if there is one error that should be avoided, it is being “behind time.”

— FREEMAN HUNT