It is not yours to finish the task, but neither are you free to set it aside.
לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה.
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
Mishnah, Pirkei Avot [Ethics of the Fathers; פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת] 2:16
(Source)
In some editions cited as 2:15 or 2:21. Many of the references below ("E.g.") have no identified translator, nor is it clear whether the translations are from the surrounding writers or borrowed from elsewhere.
Quoting Rabbi Tarfon (c. AD 130). While literally speaking of studying the Torah, the passage is usually understood to imply solving the problems of the world.
(Source (Hebrew)). Other translations:It is not for thee to finish the work, nor art thou free to desist therefrom.
[tr. Taylor (1897)]It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it.
[tr. Charles (1913); 2:21]The work is not upon thee to finish nor art thou free to desist from it.
[tr. Herford (1929); 2:21]It is not thy part to finish the task, yet thou art not free to desist from it.
[tr. Danby (1933)]It is not up to you to complete the work; but neither are you free to desist from it.
[tr. Bokser (1989)]It is not your responsibility to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but you are not free to desist from it either.
[tr. Telushkin (1991)?]It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.
[tr. Kulp (2014?)]The work is not yours to complete. [The Holy One Blessed be He did not hire you to complete all of it, in which instance you would lose your wage if you did not complete it.] And [lest you say: (In that case,) I will not learn and I will not take a wage] — you are not free to abstain from it. [Perforce the yoke is upon you to labor.]
[tr. Silverstein (2013?)]It is not [incumbent] upon thee to finish the work, but neither art thou a free man so as to [be entitled to] refrain therefrom.
[Wikisource]It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[tr. Open Mishnah]It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.
[E.g.]It is not up to you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid it.
[E.g.]You need not finish the work , but you are not free to stop working.
[E.g.]Although I am not free to avoid doing the work, it is not always necessary that I finish the task.
[E.g.]You are not obliged to complete the task, nor are you free to abandon it.
[E.g.]You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
[E.g.]It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]It is not your obligation to finish the task, nor are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]It is not yours to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]
Quotations about:
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What nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish someone had told this to me, is that […] all of us who do creative work, we get into it, and we get into because we have good taste. […] But you get into this thing […] and there’s a gap. For the first couple of years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. That you can tell it’s still sort of crappy. A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. […] The thing I want to tell you is, everybody goes through that. […] It’s totally normal. And the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story. […] Because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions. […] It’s going to take you awhile. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.
Ira Glass (b. 1959) American report, radio personality, producer
“This American Life,” Public Radio International (Aug 2009)
(Source)
An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.
Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
(Attributed)
Our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail, in good spirits.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 7.4 “Discipline of Conscience”
(Source)
A collection of aphorisms and musings, first published in the Edinburgh Edition of his Works, vol. 28 (1898).
