Half a Life (2001)
“A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.”
Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic
Variant: A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order.
James Clavell (1921–1994) American novelist
Interview with Don Swaim (1986)
Interview with Don Swaim (1986)
“It is rare for a novel to have an ending as good as its middle and beginning…”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
“An Unread Book”, p. 25
The Third Book of Criticism (1969)
Sandra Bullock (1964) American actress and producer
As quoted in Uptown Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News (8 January 2009)
Yiyun Li (1972) Chinese American writer
On the duality of immigration in “Interview with Yiyun Li” https://nasslit.com/interview-with-yiyun-li-71b0c4662bf0 in The Nassau Literary Review (2018 May 3)
“Now begin in the middle, and later learn the beginning; the end will take care of itself.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) American writer
“Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.”
Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer
Source: The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life
Robert Frost book Mountain Interval
Mountain Interval (1920), 5. In the Home Stretch, Line 187-192
General sources
Context: “My dear,
It’s who first thought the thought. You’re searching, Joe,
For things that don’t exist; I mean beginnings.
Ends and beginnings—there are no such things.
There are only middles.
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist
The Law of Mind (1892)
