Well begun is half done; dare to be wise; begin!
[Dimidium facti qui coepit habet; sapere aude;
incipe!]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 40ff (1.2.40-41) (20 BC) [tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]
(Source)
See Aristotle.
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:The facte begun, to one halfe is done, be wyse and take good harte:
Begin.
[tr. Drant (1567)]Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise.
[tr. Cowley (17th C)]Set forth, thou'rt half thy way.
Dare to be wise: Begin.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]Begin: 'tis half the work: assume the power
To live: expect not for a fairer hower.
[tr. "Dr. W."; ed. Brome (1666)]He that hath once begun a good design,
Hath finish't half; dare to be wise, begin.
[tr. Creech (1684)]Dare to be wise; begin; for, once begun,
Your task is easy; half the work is done.
[tr. Francis (1747)]In virtue's race to start is half to win;
Come then, be wise -- take courage and begin!
[tr. Howes (1845)]He has half the deed done, who has made a beginning. Boldly undertake the study of true wisdom: begin it forthwith.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]Come now, have courage to be wise: begin:
You're halfway over when you once plunge in.
[tr. Conington (1874)]Make a good start, and you are sure to win.
So, then, have courage to be wise! Begin!
[tr. Martin (1881)]Whoever has begun a deed, by so doing has accomplished half of it. Dare to be wise. Begin.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]Well begun
Is half done. Dare to be wise. Get under way!
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]Once you start, it's nearly done. Be brave and wise:
Begin.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]To begin a job is half the labor: be brave
Enough to be wise: begin!
[tr. Raffel (1983)]Get yourself going and you'll be halfway there;
Dare to be wise; get started.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]Well begun is half done. Dare to be wise.
Start now.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]Who’s started has half finished: dare to be wise: begin!
[tr. Kline (2015)]He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!
[Bartlett's]
Quotations about:
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Happiness is where we find it, but very rarely where we seek it.
Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn (1792-1870) French-Swiss poet
(Attributed)
Whatever you are, be a good one.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) English novelist
(Attributed)
Attributed in Laurence Hutton, "A Boy I Knew," St Nicholas Magazine (Mar 1897), where it was originally given as "Whatever you are, try to be a good one." Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln (first recorded in 1946). For more information, see here.
Like the greedy merchants of bazaars, if we get out of life what we ask for, we are unhappy for not having asked for more.
Paul Eldridge (1888-1982) American educator, novelist, poet
Maxims for a Modern Man, #1195 (1965)
