But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing.
—Kate Chopin (1850–1904) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer
Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
Sometimes when you think you are done, it is just the edge of beginning. Probably that’s why we decide we’re done. It’s getting too scary. We are touching down onto something real. It is beyond the point when you think you are done that often something strong comes out.
—Natalie Goldberg (b.1948) American Buddhist Author
The only joy in the world is to begin.
—Cesare Pavese (1908–50) Italian Novelist, Poet, Critic, Translator
No good ending can be expected in the absence of the right beginning. It is too late.
—I Ching Ancient Chinese Divination Text
The beginning is the half of every action.
—Common Proverb
Meet the first beginnings; look to the budding mischief before it has time to ripen to maturity.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Every beginning is a consequence. Every beginning ends something.
—Paul Valery (1871–1945) French Critic, Poet
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Inventors and men of genius have almost always been regarded as fools at the beginning – and very often at the end – of their careers.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
Remember tonight.. for it is the beginning of always.
—Unknown
There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.
—American Indian Proverb
Making the beginning is one third of the work.
—Irish Proverb
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
It is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but the dream before the awakening.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
He has the deed half done who has made a beginning.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking of a tightrope.
—Henri Matisse (1869–1954) French Painter, Sculptor, Lithographer
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.
—Barbara Sher (1935–2020) American Career Coach
Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in the world.
—Cesare Pavese (1908–50) Italian Novelist, Poet, Critic, Translator
Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings.
Not all things are blest, but the
seeds of all things are blest.
The blessing is in the seed.
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–80) American Poet, Writer
The end of a thing,
is never the end,
something is always being born like
a year of a baby.
—Lucille Clifton (1936–2010) American Poet, Children’s Book-Writer
In my beginning is my end.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
The beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression more readily taken.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Birth is the beginning of death
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.
—Dorothee Luzy Dotinville (1747–1830) French Dancer, Actress
All glory comes from daring to begin.
—Eugene F. Ware
It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking which, more than anything else, will determine its successful outcome.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
If my soul could get away from this so-called prison, be granted all the list of attributes generally bestowed on spirits, my first ramble on spirit-wings would not be among the volcanoes of the moon. Nor should I follow the sunbeams to their sources in the sun. I should hover about the beauty of our own good star. I should not go moping around the tombs, nor around the artificial desolation of men. I should study Nature’s laws in all their crossings and unions: I should follow magnetic streams to their source and follow the shores of our magnetic oceans. I should go among the rays of the aurora, and follow them to their beginnings, and study their dealings and communions with other powers and expressions of matter. And I should go to the very center of our globe and read the whole splendid page from the beginning.
—John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American Naturalist
Each day the world is born anew for him who takes it rightly.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
In every phenomenon the beginning remains always the most notable moment.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.
—Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English Nurse
The births of all things are weak and tender and therefore we should have our eyes intent on beginnings.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
It’s never too late—never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.
—Jane Fonda (b.1937) American Actress, Political Activist
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Every beginning is a consequence. Every beginning ends something.
—Unknown
The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
—Chinese Proverb
The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.
—Ivy Baker Priest (1905–75) American Politician
When there is a start to be made, don’t step over! Start where you are.
—Edgar Cayce (1877–1945) American Faith Healer
More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin.
—Unknown
A hard beginning maketh a good ending.
—John Heywood
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.
—Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) American Novelist
All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage