“It is far easier to argue that something nobody believes in actually exists than it is to argue that something everybody believes in is unreal.”

Remark to scientist Herman Francis Mark
1940s, Only Then Shall We Find Courage (1946)

The Second Coming (1980)

Variant: It's much easier... to be on the verge of something than to actually be it. This would still take time.
Source: The Book Thief

Source: Catching Fire

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Man of Letters

Source: Faith vs. Fact (2015), p. 29 (quoting Voltaire)

20 Hrs., 40 Min. (1928), p. 16
Context: In soloing—as in other activities—it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it. Almost every beginner hops off with a whoop of joy, though he is likely to end his flight with something akin to the D. T.'s.