"Being on time is rude because you may be disturbing your host before they’ve made all the preparations they need before your arrival. Being early would be an outrageous offense."
It always amazes me how Brazilians and Germans can be so different when it comes to punctuality and yet so similar when it comes to their love of bureaucracy (and devotion to soccer, for that matter).
It also depends on who my guests are. If I know they are consistently late, I give them an earlier time. If they are always early, I give them a later time.
My grandfather was overly punctual. He'd show up 30-60mins early for dinner and my mom hated it. My mom loves hosting people but she can't do that while she's blowdrying her hair or helping her children get ready. So she would tell him a different time than everyone else coming over so he'd show up when everyone and everything was ready.
> Being early to an appointment is as rude as being late because you may be disturbing your host before they've taken all the efforts they require before your arrival
( VERY rough quote, the english translation is 100x more eloquent than my half-remembered version )
Edmond Dantès arrives exactly as the clock strikes the minute of his appointment no later and no earlier. I remember reading that when I was ~16 and it always seemed to make sense to me