“Now begin in the middle, and later learn the beginning; the end will take care of itself.”

— Harlan Ellison

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Harlan Ellison 79

American writer 1934–2018

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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.
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speech at Lord Mayor’s Luncheon, Mansion House, London, November 10, 1942 : ( partial text http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/EndoBegn.html)
Referring to the British victory over the German Afrika Korps at the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.
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Variant: This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of the beginning.
Source: Their Finest Hour