mills of the gods grind slowly

Idioms  

1. One's destiny is inevitable even if it takes considerable time to arrive. For example, I'm sure he'll be wealthy one day, though the mills of the gods grind slowly. This expression comes from ancient Greek, translated as “The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small.” In English it appeared in George Herbert's Jacula Prudentum (1640) as “God's mill grinds slow but sure.”

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Example Sentences

This was not immediately apparent, however, for, as they also often say in Hollywood, the mills of the gods grind slowly.

From Time Magazine Archive

The quotation which I am at the moment anxious to make use of is, "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small."

From Khartoum Campaign, 1898 or the Re-Conquest of the Soudan by Burleigh, Bennet

"It means," said Harry, savagely, "that though the mills of the gods grind slowly they grind surely—Owen's dead."

From The Perils of Pauline by Goddard, Charles

He has found that "the mills of the gods grind slowly;" that the political lever needs for its fulcrum a foundation as solidly material as equitably sentimental.

From Shadow and Light An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century by Washington, Booker T.

"The mills of the gods grind slowly," Mr. Rankin; "but they grind exceeding small."

From Captain Brassbound's Conversion by Shaw, Bernard