The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (604 page)

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o
u, proverbially it is said that the beginning is the hald of every task; HORACE
Epistles
I
. ii. 40
dimidium facti qui coepit habet
, he who has made a beginning, has half done.

c
1415
Middle English Sermons
(EETS) 148
The wise man seth that halfe he hath don that wel begynneth is werke.
1542
Erasmus' Apophthegms
I. 16
Laertius ascrybeth to hym [Socrates] this saiyng also: to haue well begoone is a thyng halfe dooen.
1616
Dict.
(rev. ed.) 555
Well begun, is half done.
1703
Don Quixote
IV. xli.
Let me .. get .. ready for our Journey… 'Twill be soon done, and A Business once begun, you know, is half ended.
1883
Shropshire Folklore
273
They also account it very unlucky to give trust [credit] for the first article sold. ‘Well begun is half done,’ is evidently their principle.
1907
Acts
I. 176
Satan spoils many a well-begun work … Well begun is half—but only half—ended.
1981
Xanadu Talisman
iv.
The nannie-like proverbs .. Well begun is half done, The early bird catches the worm.