英和和英

ことわざ

timing is everything

1. The consideration of other events can greatly influence some desired outcome (such as whether a joke is well received).

   - Telling the old joke about a butt-crack was not a good idea, just as the plumber arrived, Bob.
   - You know what they say: "timing is everything." I'm sure we can find another plumber before the house floods.

   • 2015, Rob Couty, Timing Is Everything!: Joining The Right Company At The Right Time!, Rob Couty:

     “​Timing Is Everything​”. It certainly has been true in my life and chances are it's probably played a role in your life as well. As I look back there were moments where I missed out on something special because I either made the wrong ...

   • 2017, Janice Presser, Timing Isn't Everything. Teaming Is., Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 35:

     So when I'd hear people tell me – in many contexts – that timing is everything, I'd naturally feel uncomfortably constrained. Choked sometimes. Because I knew that I personally possessed virtually no sense of timing in the clock sense of time.

   • 2001, Forestry Tactics: Lessons from Malawi's National Forestry Programme, IIED, →ISBN, page 9:

     ... partnership in the new forest policy was one ingredient; but it was the pressing demands on government forestry from an increasingly vocal civil society – that brought a hesitant. Forestry tactics 9 Why now? Why this way? Timing is everything.