Almost everything comes from nothing.

—Henry F. Amiel

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

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

—Lao-Tzu

The greatest masterpieces were once only pigments on a palette.

—Henry S. Hoskins

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

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

—Chinese proverb

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

—Joe Sabah

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

—Martin Luther King Jr

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

The distance is nothing; it’s only the first step that is difficult.

—Marquise du Deffand

The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.

—John Galsworthy

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

Every exit is an entry somewhere else.

—Tom Stoppard