Maybe I'm lucky to be going so slowly, because I may be going in the wrong direction.

Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) is best known for his wry, aphoristic “Pot-Shots”—one- or two-sentence observations printed on postcards and in collections beginning in the late 1960s. The line fits his characteristic blend of self-deprecating humor and practical skepticism about ambition and “progress.” Rather than celebrating speed, it imagines slowness as a kind of accidental safeguard: if one’s goals or assumptions are mistaken, rapid advancement only compounds the error. The remark is typically encountered as a standalone aphorism, circulating in quotation compilations and on Brilliant’s merchandise, rather than as part of a longer essay or speech.

The aphorism turns a common anxiety—moving too slowly in life—into a paradoxical comfort. “Slowly” becomes “lucky” because it reduces the cost of being wrong: if your direction (career, relationship, belief, plan) is misguided, speed merely accelerates regret. Brilliant’s humor depends on the sudden reversal of the usual success narrative, which equates momentum with virtue. The deeper point is epistemic humility: before optimizing for efficiency, confirm that the destination is worth reaching. It also suggests a practical ethic of periodic reassessment—progress is not just motion, but motion aligned with a sound aim.