“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
Commonly attributed to Twain in computer contexts and post-2000 inspirational books — the first sentence has also been attributed to Agatha Christie and Sally Berger.
Misattributed
“The secret of writing comedy is to know where it's all going, then get ahead of it.”
Henry Allen (January 4, 1979) "Life in the Laugh Factory", The Washington Post, p. B1.
“you don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.”
Variant: you don't have to be great to get started but you have to to get started to be great
“My advice is to get involved and get started.”
From his autobiography http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2000/kilby-autobio.html. The Nobel Prizes 2000, Editor Tore Frängsmyr, Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 2001
Context: I've reached the age where young people frequently ask for my advice. All I can really say is that electronics is a fascinating field that I continue to find fulfilling. The field is still growing rapidly, and the opportunities that are ahead are at least as great as they were when I graduated from college. My advice is to get involved and get started.
Start All Over Again
Song lyrics, Enlightenment (1990)
“The secret of a good scam is not to get greedy.”
Source: Vacuum Flowers (1987), Chapter 4, “Londongrad” (p. 50)
“The secret of getting along with people is that of postponing quarrels.”
(p. 115 in The Hugo Winners vol. 1 edited by Isaac Asimov).
Short fiction, Exploration Team (1956)
“I’m starting to get the picture.”
“If you can say it so calmly, then you haven’t.”
Source: Bitter Angels (2009), Chapter 11 (p. 155)
