Hagakure (c. 1716)
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.
“Conceive. That is the word that means both the beginning in imagination and the end in creation.”
The Serpent, in Pt. I, Act I
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)
Interview with Don Swaim (1986)
Interview with Don Swaim (1986)
“Now begin in the middle, and later learn the beginning; the end will take care of itself.”
“horses: dangerous on both ends and crafty in the middle”
“Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.”
Source: The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life
“A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.”
Variant: A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order.
“Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Not necessarily in that order.”
