"The impossible we do immediately, miracles take a little longer"

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/flinders2002/4.htm

Hi Michael,

See http://www.bartleby.com/73/1183.html :)

Cheers
NP

I believe it was the commander of the Chindits in the second world war. Possibly Ord Wingate or another commander (I can't recall his name right now)

I found it in Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

I found it on the wall in the Inn on Sejer Island, Denmark - only written in Danish.

I think Isambard Kingdom Brunel was known to say, 'we can now do the impossible, but miracles take a little longer'.

Ben Gurion, the first priminister of Israel

"Sir, The impossible we can do right now. Miracles take a little longer".

I first read this in a book about the Battle of Midway back when I was in grade school around 1962/64. The carrier USS Yorktown had just returned back to Pearl Harbor heavily damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

This was said to have been the reply of the Pearl Harbor shipyard foreman when told that sh

The difficult is that which can be done immediately; the impossible that which takes a little longer- George Santayana

Don't know the origin, but Henry the K's version tells a lot about modern US government:
The illegal we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.