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

The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.

 ––Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is a tremendous act of violence to begin anything. I am not able to begin. I simply skip what should be the beginning.

––Rainer Maria Rilke

The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.

––Dave Weinbaum

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

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.

––Louis L’Amour

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

––Joe Sabah

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover’s arms can only come later when you’re sure they won’t laugh if you trip.

––Jonathan Carroll

The greatest masterpieces were once only pigments on a palette.

—Henry S. Hoskins

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

He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determine the end.

––Harry Emerson Fosdick

It was on that road and at that hour that I first became aware of my own self, experienced an inexpressible state of grace, and felt one with the first breath of air that stirred, the first bird, and the sun so newly born that it still looked not quite round.

––Colette

(Each week this column features quotations gleaned from the readings and experiences of our editors, reporters, readers, and friends. All are invited to submit quotations for inclusion here. They may be sent to Gleanings, c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470 or emailed to editor@thebee.com.)