
ProverbPerseverance
American origin
You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great
Meaning: Greatness is not a prerequisite for beginning; beginning is the path to greatness.
Origin: Usually credited to the American motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, but also to the speakers Les Brown and Joe Sabah. None of these attributions has been traced to a dated first use, so who coined it is unclear.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
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- خالد خلّى خلال خاله في الخلاء. (Khālid khallā khalāl khālih fī al-khalāʾ.) A rapid-fire 'kh' (خ) drill — the throaty fricative that non-Arabic speakers find uniquel…
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