What would be the closest Greek proverb to “we all have to start somewhere”, meaning “do not worry about making beginner’s mistakes, since all of us at one time had to make them”.
Ἀρχὴ ἥμισυ παντός. …
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I found this quote in Aristotle’s Politics that you seem to be referring to: ἡ δ’ἀρχὴ λέγεται ἥμισυ εἶναι παντός,
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There’s a Greek proverb that means exactly the opposite of what you want: Ἀρχῆς κακῆς τέλος κακόν or Mali principii malus finis, “A bad beginning makes a bad end" (Erasmus 4.ix.86) attributed to several sources including Euripides.
How about the quote from Hesiod, παθὼν δέ τε νήπιος ἔγνω, “a fool learns when he has suffered,” sometimes quoted as παθήματα μαθήματα. Aesop uses this formula as the moral of several fables: ὁ μῦθος δηλοῖ, ὅτι πολλάκις τὰ παθήματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων μαθήματα γίνονται.
They use παθήματα μαθήματα in Thrasymachus so I’m glad to know the source of this cliche, thanks for the info. As for the Aesop quotes, do these quotes come from Babrius or some other later writer. Also, I want to encourage you to take a look at my essay posted inn the composition sections. any pointers would be appreciated.
This is used in several fables in Hausrath’s Corpus fabularum Aesopicarum. That collection pulls from various sources, so I don’t know if it’s Babrius or another author.
I will read your essay but I’m not competent to assess it, unfortunately. Nice job for attempting it. I will reply if I spot anything super-obvious, but it’s likely someone else will spot that before me, lol.
found an earlier version in Pythagoras: τοιοῦτον δή ἐστι τὸ ἀρχὴ δέ τοι ἥμισυ παντός. as seen here: http://217.71.231.54:8080/TLG0632/0632_002.htm