BEGINNING / ENDEAVOUR

Related States & Conditions | Syntonic | Dystonic

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
Laozi
c. 570-490 BCE, Chinese Philosopher
Daode Jing

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.
Laozi

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
427-347 BCE, Greek Philosopher
The Republic

Well begun is half done.
Aristotle
384-322 BCE, Greek Philosopher

He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!
Horace
65-8 BCE, Roman Lyric Poet, Satirist
Epistles

Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness.
Publilius Syrus
c. 42 BCE, Roman Writer

Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is.
Jesus of Nazareth
c. 5 BCE- c. 30 CE, Jewish Prophet, Founder of Christianity
The Gospel of Thomas , Stephen Patterson & Marvin Meyer, trs.

Begin; to begin is half the work. Let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.
Ausonius
c. 310-c. 395, French-Roman Poet, Educator, Administrator

The beginning of cultivating yourself is right in yourself; on a thousand mile journey, the first step is the most important. If you can do both of these well, the infinite sublime meanings of hundreds of thousands of teachings will be fulfilled.
Ying-An
Chinese Chan Master
in Zen Essence: The Science of Freedom , Thomas Cleary, tr. & ed., 1989

Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.
Meister Eckhart
1260-1327, German Dominican Priest, Theologian, Mystic

Wherever you are is the entry point.
Kabir
1440-1518, Indian Sufi Master, Poet
in Julia Cameron, Transitions: Prayers and Declarations for a Changing Life , 1999

In my end is my beginning.
Mary Stuart
1542-1587, Scottish Queen

If the first button of one's coat is wrongly buttoned, all the rest will be crooked.
Giordano Bruno
1548-1600, Italian Philosopher

Wa gaan bad a maanin ciaahn com gud a iivnin.
What has gone bad in the morning cannot come good in the evening.
Jamaican Saying

We have it in our power to begin the world again.
Thomas Paine
1737-1809, English-American Political Theorist, Pamphleteer
Common Sense , 1776

All beginnings require that you unlock new doors.
Nachman of Breslov
1772-1810, Polish Rabbi

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.
John Henry Newman
1801-1890, English Cardinal, Theologian, Poet

What we call results are beginnings.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist, Philosopher
The Conduct of Life , 1860

In creating, the only hard thing's to begin; a grass-blade's no easier to make than an oak.
James Russell Lowell
1819-1891, American Poet, Editor, Diplomat

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 Founder of Nursing

Unless you try, you don't know what you can't do.
Henry James
1843-1916, American/British Writer, Critic

But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing.
Kate Chopin
1851-1904, American Writer

Start where you are with what you have, knowing that what you have is plenty enough.
Booker T. Washington
1856-1915, African-American Educator

Wherever you are, that is a point from which you can start to the center.
Vivekananda
1863-1902, Indian Guru, Writer
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 1984-1987 , 3:536

Just to be on the first step should make you happy and proud. To have reached this point is no small achievement: what you have done already is a wonderful thing.
Constantine Cavafy
1863-1933, Greek-Egyptian Poet

Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until have accomplished a purpose – not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.
Annie Sullivan
1866-1936, American Lecturer, Writer

The past is but a beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn.
H. G. Wells
1866-1946, English Writer

There are thousands of reasons why you cannot do what you want to. All you need is one reason why you can.
Willis Whitney
1868-1958, American Chemist, Inventor

Every beginning is a consequence – every beginning ends something.
Paul Valery
1871-1945, French Poet, Mathematician, Philosopher

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, English Prime Minister, Historian, 1953 Nobel Laureate
Speech, Mansion House, 1942

One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.
Morihei Ueshiba
1883-1969, Japanese Martial Artist, Founder of Aikido
The Art of Peace , John Stevens, tr., 1992

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make our end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from ...
And so each venture
is a new beginning,
a raid on the inarticulate.
T. S. Eliot
1885-1965, American/British Poet, Dramatist, Critic
Four Quartets , 1943, 1974

In my beginning is my end.
Eliot
East Coker

The sum of all our days is just our beginning.
Lewis Mumford
1895-1990, American Sociologist, Writer

The ending (of the old way of thinking) is the beginning, and the beginning is the first step, and the first step is the only step.
Krishnamurti
1895-1986, Indian Philosopher, Writer
The Second Penguin Krishnamurti Reader , M. Lutyens, ed., 1973

In eternity everything is just beginning.
Elias Canetti
1905-1994, Bulgarian Philosopher, Writer, 1981 Nobel Laureate

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
Louis L'Amour
1908-1988, American Writer

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.
Albert Camus
1913-1960, Algerian-French Writer, Essayist, Dramatist, 1957 Nobel Laureate

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
1913-1980, American Poet, Political Activist
"Elegy in Joy," The Green Wave

The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.
Ralph Ellison
1914-1994, African-American Writer
Invisible Man , 1952

We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginning all our lives.
Thomas Merton
1915-1968, American Trappist Monk, Writer

Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.
Liz Smith
1923-, American Journalist

You must begin wherever you are.
Jack Boland
1924-1992, American Unity Cleric

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
1929-1968, African-American Civil Rights Leader, Baptist Cleric, 1964 Nobel Laureate

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.
Beverly Sills
1929-, American Opera Singer

This instant is a new beginning for all. If you really jump into a now-moment you will be completely renewed.
Tolbert McCarroll
1931-, American Writer
Notes from the Song of Life , 1977

But the greatest miracle for me was getting started. I feel – and the anxiety is still vivid to me – that I might easily have failed before I began.
Vidia Naipaul
1932-, Indian-Trinidadian/British Writer, 2001 Nobel Laureate

You must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.
Richard Bach
1936-, American Writer
Jonathan Livingston Seagull , 1973

Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.
Vaclav Havel
1936-, Czech President, Poet, Dramatist

It ain't nothing to find no starting place in the world. You just start from where you find yourself.
August Wilson
1945-, African-American Dramatist

No first step can be really great; it must of necessity possess more of prophecy than of achievement; nevertheless, it is by the first step that a man marks the value, not only of his cause, but of himself.
- Katherine Cecil Thurston

Don't wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater.
- Mary Manin Morrissey

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Wisdom for The Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, © 2004