I’ve seen this attributed to several different sources.  My wife first told me about it as something that one of her professors in college had on his office door.

Here is the way it works.  If you want something of quality (good) then you can either get it fast, or cheap.  If you want it cheap, it takes longer.  If you want it fast, it will cost more.  Something that is cheap and fast can’t ever be quality.  It’s that simple.

In practical application – let’s use an example I’m very familiar with – leather crafting.  I can’t begin to adequately express my frustration when I hear someone say things like, “I’d rather pay $5 for a wallet right now, even if I know I’ll have to buy another one in a month.”  That’s going to cost them $60/year just for wallets.

But someone who is good at crafting leather goods can make a wallet in a few days that will last for 20 to 30 years.  If he charges a fair price for the materials and his time, that wallet will cost you about $150.    If you want a wallet fast and cheap, it will not last.

Or, to hit closer to home, people often say they can’t afford to eat healthy food.  So they’ll spend $5 per person for a meal at a fast-food place instead of cooking from scratch with healthy ingredients.  But, then they will have to follow that up with expensive health care – doctor visits, pharmaceutical prescriptions, perhaps even obesity and heart disease.  By the time you reach retirement age, you’re looking at spending 1/3rd of your income on health care, and if there is a crisis, one trip to the hospital can cost more than $10,000 AFTER your insurance has paid it’s share.  How expensive are those fast-food meals now?