“The first blow is half the battle.”

— Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act II

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 "The first blow is half the battle." by Oliver Goldsmith?

Oliver Goldsmith134

Irish physician and writer 1728–1774

Related quotes

“Courage in danger is half the battle.”
Bonus animus in mala re, dimidium est mali.

Plautus Pseudolus

Pseudolus, Act I, scene 5, line 37
Pseudolus

“The most important thing, my father told me, which I have never forgotten, and which I have often put unto practice was: If you get into a quarrel with anybody, hit him first. "If you hit first, the battle is half-won," my father always said "Don't let him hit first. You hit him first."
"What's more," he never forgot to say, too "Usually one blow is all you need."”

Christopher Vokes (1904–1985) Canadian general

I found this to be true.
Kingston, p. 8
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow.”

Thomas Campbell (1777–1844) British writer

Stanza 1 <br class="br"> Ye Mariners of England http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Campbell/ye%20mariners_of_england.htm (1800)

“Knowing that you possess a talent is half the battle in mastering it.”

Lin Carter (1930–1988) American fantasy writer, editor, critic

Source: Time War (1974), Chapter 12, “The Metal Brain” (p. 128)

“You get him out and half the battle is won.”

Arjuna Ranatunga (1963) Sri Lankan cricketer

Arjuna Ranatunga on Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin Tendulkar: Quotable quotes on the batting legend http://www.khaleejtimes.com/article/20131112/ARTICLE/311129977/1051.

“Just knowing that such states exist, that is, having symbols for them, is half the battle.”

Marvin Minsky (1927–2016) American cognitive scientist

Music, Mind, and Meaning (1981)
Context: Innate sentic detectors could help by teaching children about their own affective states. For if distinct signals arouse specific states, the child can associate those signals with those states. Just knowing that such states exist, that is, having symbols for them, is half the battle.

“Life seemed to be an educator's practical joke in which you spent the first half learning and the second half learning that everything you learned in the first half was wrong.”

Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States

"Back to the Dump" (p.414)
There's a Country in My Cellar (1990)