Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
- Source
- The Republic
- Date
- c. 375 BCE
- Local voice
- Dialogue speaker · Socrates
- English wording
- Benjamin Jowett — Translator · from Ancient Greek
Meaning of “The beginning is the most important part of…”
Beginnings shape habits and direction, so the first stage of a serious undertaking deserves unusual care.
Where does it come from?
The Republic, Book II, Benjamin Jowett translation. The retained catalog wording is a shortened common form of Jowett’s longer sentence, “the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing”; it should not be presented as a verbatim full sentence from the represented edition.
Why the local voice matters
Socrates says this in Republic, Book II, while arguing with Adeimantus about the formative importance of stories told to children.
