If it's a race, I'd expect the swift to win... ;^)

Not always. There are sprints, where that could be assumed. But there are also marathons, steeplechases, and orienteering, among others. So stamina, fortitude, planning ... lots of things, can come into play besides just swiftness. I think that's where the saying comes from. That and the tale of the tortoise and the hare ...

I agree with your point about modules potentially causing bloat. But in the case of the average beginner, using a well-established module for a common task will usually not cause that problem, but _will_ allow him/her to get back to the true task at hand. If using the module becomes inefficient or the wrong choice for some other reason, then by all means roll your own.

I have some collections of tools in modules, too. Always a balance between convenience of having them in one file vs. the bloat, again, of loading stuff you don't need. Lately I am loving Exporter::Tiny for that. No non-Core dependencies, ::Tiny-style minimal code to use ... very convenient.

Every situation is different.