Meaning of “Better is the end of a thing than…”

Patience is portrayed as active endurance: the ability to continue without letting delay become defeat.

Progress is pictured as a combination of effort and patience rather than nonstop urgency.

Steady progress can defeat greater natural speed when the faster competitor becomes careless, distracted, or overconfident.

Courage can look like continuing useful work after enthusiasm fades, especially when results are delayed rather than immediately visible.

The closing sequence turns purpose into continuing action: effort, search, discovery, and refusal to surrender.

Douglass links hope with continued effort: uncertainty about the outcome does not prevent him from persisting in a difficult undertaking.