Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Beginning
He has half the deed done, who has made a beginning.
Horace.—By Smart, Book I. Epistle 2.
When the ancients said that a work begun was half done, they meant that we ought to take the utmost pains in every undertaking to make a good beginning.
Polybius.—V. 32. (Dr. Ramage, Beautiful Thoughts from Greek Authors.)
The mind must be excited to make a beginning.
Seneca.
The true beginning of our end.
Shakespeare.—Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V. Scene 1. (Enter Prologue.)
I see the beginning of my end, for I am almost starved.
Massinger.—The Virgin Martyr, Act III. Scene 3. (
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
St. John.—The Revelation, Chap. xxii. Ver. 13.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from the ancient times the things that are not yet done.
Isaiah, Chap. xlvi. Ver. 10.