“Anything done for the first time unleashes a demon.”

—  Dave Sim

Cover and title of Cerebus #65, August 1984, collected in Church & State I, p. 7 and 273
Usually quoted with "Anything" unspaced (as in the title p. 7), sometimes quoted spaced (as in the art p. 273, as "Any thing done for the first time unleashes a demon.") because the cover art http://www.comics.org/issue/175338/ piles "Any" and "thing" (though they are joined, the leg of the "y" being also the bar of the "t").
Compare to a quote misattributed to Emily Dickinson: "Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon." (origin and date unknown, also attributed to Dave Sim)
Church & State volume I (1987)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Anything done for the first time unleashes a demon." by Dave Sim?
Dave Sim photo
Dave Sim 22
Canadian cartoonist, creator of Cerebus 1956

Related quotes

Dave Sim photo

“Anything done for the first time unleashes a demon. (Cover and title of Cerebus #65, August 1984, collected in Church & State I, p. 7 and 273)”

Dave Sim (1956) Canadian cartoonist, creator of Cerebus

Usually quoted with "Anything" unspaced (as in the title p. 7), sometimes quoted spaced (as in the art p. 273, as<!--variant requoted in full to be googlable too--> "Any<!--spaced--> <!--here-->thing done for the first time unleashes a demon.") because the cover art http://www.comics.org/issue/175338/ piles "Any" and "thing" (though they are joined, the leg of the "y" being also the bar of the "t").
Compare to a quote misattributed to Emily Dickinson: "Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon." (origin and date unknown, also attributed to Dave Sim<!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=q4D2Xz5N3xkC&pg=PA66 -->)
Church & State volume I (1987)

Emily Dickinson photo

“Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Quoted on the web sans source. Not in the complete Poems. A 2006 self-help book attributes it verbatim to Dave Sim (see below) sans source. A 2009 reprint of Poems: Second Series mentions it in the introduction sans source (thus probably taking it from the unsourced web quote). No earlier attributions found.
Compare to a quote sourced to Dave Sim: "Anything done for the first time unleashes a demon." (Cerebus #65, 1984)
Misattributed

Suzanne Collins photo

“You know, I think this is the first time we've ever done anything normal together.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Georges Bernanos photo

“I have done no passably decent job in this world which did not at first seem to me useless - absurdly useless, useless to the point of nausea. My secret demon is called :What's the use?”

Georges Bernanos book Les grands cimetières sous la lune

Source: Les grands cimetieres sous la lune (A Diary of My Times) 1938, p.17

David Mitchell photo

“"But it's been done a hundred times before!" -- As if there could be anything not done a hundred thousand times between Aristophanes and Andrew Void Webber! As if Art is the What, not the How!”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

"The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish", p. 312 (Nook edition)
Cloud Atlas (2004)

Bob Black photo

“No one can say what would result from unleashing the creative power stultified by work. Anything can happen.”

Bob Black book The Abolition of Work

The Abolition of Work (1985)
Context: No one can say what would result from unleashing the creative power stultified by work. Anything can happen. The tiresome debater's problem of freedom vs. necessity, with its theological overtones, resolves itself practically once the production of use-values is co-extensive with the consumption of delightful play activity. Life will become a game, or rather many games, but not—as it is now — a zero/sum game. An optimal sexual encounter is the paradigm of productive play. The participants potentiate each other's pleasures, nobody keeps score, and everybody wins. The more you give, the more you get. In the ludic life, the best of sex will diffuse into the better part of daily life. Generalized play leads to the libidinization of life. Sex, in turn, can become less urgent and desperate, more playful.
If we play our cards right, we can all get more out of life than we put into it; but only if we play for keeps.
No one should ever work.
Workers of the world... relax! </center

“If you want anything done right you will have to see to it yourself every time.”

Charles Portis book True Grit

Source: True Grit (1968), Chapter 5, p. 75 : thoughts of 'Mattie Ross'

Lucille Ball photo

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”

Lucille Ball (1911–1989) American actress and businesswoman

Variant: Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. Your really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.

Douglas Adams photo

“Having not said anything the first time, it was somehow even more difficult to broach the subject the second time around.”

Douglas Adams book So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Source: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Cassandra Clare photo

“First, the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order." -Jace Wayland”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Variant: It wouldn't be my move," Jace agreed. "First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order.
Source: City of Bones

Related topics