Beginner Quotes & Sayings

I am far more interested in being a beginner than in trying to become an expert. Life is difficult and complicated for everyone - but it's very, very short. — Alastair Humphreys

It's very important as a beginner that you understand right from the start that meditation is about befriending your thinking, about holding it gently in awareness, no matter what is on your mind in a particular moment. It is not about shutting off your thoughts or changing them in any way. — Jon Kabat-Zinn

A kung fu man lives without being dependant on the opinions of others, and a master, unlike the beginner, holds himself in reserve. He is quiet and unassuming, with no desire to show off. — Bruce Lee

i.e., TestNG". This technique helps a beginner learn how to read the code before writing the code. The following are steps to install Selenium IDE: Steps — Rex Allen Jones II

You're only a beginner; and what you think is love, and interest, and all that, is not real love at all: three quarters of it is only unsatisfied curiosity. — George Bernard Shaw

Whether if you're a beginner poet or an experienced poet, poets just as other writers would like to have more readers enjoy their work. Whether if you're a poet laureate or novice, or if you're written over 1,000 poems, anytime a poet writes a poem its like their first one, beautiful in its inherent beauty. — Reynaldo Casison

when a minister is asked why the government has been unable to stop terrorists for 13 years, the minister replies: 'beginner's luck'. — Anupama Chopra

It is, therefore, a great source of virtue for the practiced mind to learn, bit by bit, first to change about in visible and transitory things, so that afterwards it may be possible to leave them behind altogether. The man who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner; he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong; but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land. The tender soul has fixed his love on one spot in the world; the strong man has extended his love to all places; the perfect man has extinguished his. From boyhood I have dwelt on foreign soil and I know with what grief sometimes the mind takes leave of the narrow hearth of a peasant's hut, and I know too how frankly it afterwards disdains marble firesides and panelled halls. — Hugh Of Saint-Victor

Starting out in a beginner class and really understanding the fundamentals of yoga is really important. — Mariel Hemingway

Arrived at an age when others had already long been married and had children and held important positions, and were obliged to produce the best that was in them with all their energy, I still regarded myself as youthful, a beginner who faced immeasurable time, and I was hesitant about final decisions of any kind. — Stefan Zweig

The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land, for himself; then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This, say its advocates, is free labor-the just and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way for all-gives hope to all, and energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all. — Abraham Lincoln

Being a "promising beginner" is fun, but being an actual expert is infinitely more gratifying. — Angela Duckworth

When a beginner wins he feels brilliant and invincible Then he takes wild risk and loses everything. — Alexander Elder

The king, which during the opening and middlegame stage is often a burden because it has to be defended, becomes in the endgame a very important and aggressive piece, and the beginner should realize this, and utilize his king as much as possible. — Jose Raul Capablanca

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few — Shunryu Suzuki

Beginner's Guide Sixth Edition Create, Compile, and Run — Rex Jones

The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried. — Stephen McCranie

When a new company is formed, its founders must have a startup mentality - a beginner's mind, open to everything because, well, what do they have to lose? (This is often something they later look back upon wistfully.) But when that company becomes successful, its leaders often cast off that startup mentality because, they tell themselves, they have figured out what to do. They don't want to be beginners anymore. That may be human nature, but I believe it is a part of our nature that should be resisted. By resisting the beginner's mind, you make yourself more prone to repeat yourself than to create something new. The attempt to avoid failure, in other words, makes failure more likely. — Ed Catmull

Talent is important, and some background as well. This really is not beginner's school. I want to work with people that have achieved a certain level and with whom i can easily communicate, which means you don't have to do too much explaining so you won't waste precious time. I don't do much explaining during rehersals and we are just adjusting minor details. Simply, there is no space nor time for one to learn and each of them has to do their homework on time. That means practising, transitioning from a level to level. — Vlatko Stefanovski

The beginner should not be discouraged if he finds he does not have the prerequisites for reading the prerequisites. — Paul Halmos

I know now that everybody in the arts is forever a beginner. Experience counts for a great deal and very little. Every night onstage I feel I am starting from scratch, still not quite sure what I am doing and where I am going, thrown by the simplest thing that goes wrong. — Joan Rivers

Beginner Tips — Anna Shine

Sharpie? A mischievous smile spread across her face. I thought you said you couldn't control your powers. Beginner's luck. — Kami Garcia

Two simple principles lie at the bottom of the whole matter, and they may be precipitated into two rules. The first is that, when there is a choice, the milder drink is always the better-not merely the safer but the better. The second is that no really enlightened drinker ever takes a drink at a time when he has any work to do. There is, of course, more to it than this; but these are sufficient for the beginner, and even the virtuoso never outgrows them. — H.L. Mencken

I've been making movies for a long time. The Japanese way of making movies has become second nature to me. To get away from that, I really try to surround myself with younger staff and approach making movies not like a veteran of the industry but always as a beginner and a rookie. — Takashi Miike

The beginner hugs his infant poem to him and does not want it to grow up. But you may have to break your poem to remake it. — May Sarton

Is it important to have an enlightened teacher? No. Yes. If you are an absolute beginner, it really doesn't matter that much, to tell you the truth. — Frederick Lenz

I am always a beginner. I only try to include different parts of life; the pastoral, the tragic, et cetera. — Ian Hamilton Finlay

The practice of Zen mind is beginner's mind. The innocence of the first inquiry - what am I? - is needed throughout Zen practice. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. It is the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything. — Shunryu Suzuki

The Zen way of calligraphy is to write in the most straightforward, simple way as if you were a beginner, not trying to make something skillful or beautiful, but simply writing with full attention as if you were discovering what you were writing for the first time; then your full nature will be in your writing. — Shunryu Suzuki

An expert is a person who has few new ideas; a beginner is a person with many. — Albert Einstein

The expert at anything was once a beginner. — Helen Hayes

So, what does it mean for teaching and learning programming when the solution to every beginner problem is available on the Internet? — Cay S. Horstmann

I set myself challenges every time I work. Ideally, I approach everything as though it's the first time - with a beginner's mind and an amateur's love. — Willem Dafoe

We have to take advantage when luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it's doing to help us. It's called the principle of favorability. Or beginner's luck. — Paulo Coelho

Whatcha gonna do to this?
You may be older than me, but you're new to this.
Cause I been out there, queen of MC's,
When your man was walkin' round in mocknecks and Lee's.
While you were over here perpetratin' a fraud,
I was overseas on the charts with Boy George.
You're the beginner, Shante's the winner,
Havin' other competition for dinner.
Sit you on the table with a plate and cup,
Say grace ... and then eat your ass up. — Roxanne Shante

Being a good husband is like being a good stand-up comic - you need ten years before you can even call yourself a beginner. — Jerry Seinfeld

A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds. — Ted Nelson

a beginner is not a worker, but a finisher is. — Mariam

A certain man who was learning archery faced the target with two arrows in his hand. But his instructor said, ' A beginner ought never to have a second arrow; for as long as he relies upon the other, he will be careless with his first one. At each shot he ought to think that he is bound to settle it with this particular shaft at any cost.' Doubtless he would not intentionally act foolishly before his instructor with one arrow, when he has but a couple. But, though he may not himself realize that he is being careless, his teacher knows it.
You should bear this advice in mind on every occasion. (In the same way) he who follows the path of learning thinks confidently in the evening that the morning is coming, and in the morning that the evening is coming, and that he will then have plenty of time to study more carefully ; less likely still is he to recognize the waste of a single moment. How hard indeed is it to do a thing at once-now, the instant that you think of it ! — Yoshida Kenko

A young man, just beginning the study of musical composition, once went to Mozart and asked him the formula for developing the theme of a symphony. Mozart suggested that a symphony was rather an ambitious project for a beginner: perhaps the young man might better try his hand at something simpler first. "But you were writing symphonies when you were my age." the student protested. "Yes, but I didn't have to ask how." — James Keller

I can remember when, as a beginner, I was delighted with any ball as long as it would bounce. — Helen Wills Moody

I think what I like best is that when people give talks or workshops, it doesn't really matter what level you are as a writer - whether you are a beginner, or you've been around the block a bit; there's something that you can take away from every session. — Antonya Nelson

Establishing dominance early in the relationship is key. Vampire children are like human children in that they can sense weakness. They will wait for you to be busy or too distracted to realize that you've given them permission to feed on the pizza guy.
- Siring for the Stupid: A Beginner's Guide to Raising Newborn Vampires — Molly Harper

Just a beginner, but he learned so fast. Everything came so damn easy to him. Not true. The hard things cam easy. But the easy things he found impossibly hard. — Janet Fitch

Expertise gives you enough insight to reinvent what everyone else assumes is the truth. Sure, it's possible to randomly challenge the conventions of your field and luckily find a breakthrough. It's far more likely, though, that you will design a great Web site or direct a powerful movie or lead a breakthrough product development if you understand the status quo better than anyone else. Beginner's luck is dramatically overrated. Emotional — Seth Godin

You need to have a beginner's mind to create bold innovation. — Marc Benioff

Many experts lose the creativity and imagination of the less informed. They are so intimately familiar with known patterns that they may fail to recognize or respect the importance of the new wrinkle. The process of applying expertise is, after all, the editing out of unimportant details in favor of those known to be relevant. Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki said, The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. — Gavin De Becker

Every Chess master was once a beginner — Irving Chernev

Sixteen million colors in your palette are hard for any artist, especially a beginner, to turn down. — Buffy Sainte-Marie

In these litigious times, if you're a beginner, it's becoming harder and harder to get your work to the people who might actually be able to hire you. — Len Wein

Adam Roberts is an original: smart, funny, talented, endlessly inquisitive, an A student and, happily for us, an A+ teacher. Everyone from beginner cooks to sure hands will learn something new on each page. And even if, like Adam's mom's, your stove stores shoes and handbags, you'll still be charmed by Secrets-it's a great read. — Dorie Greenspan

We all say we hate being misunderstood and how we desperately want to find people who understand us. But it is not lack of compatible people that keeps us lonely. There is no shortage of people on your journey. The real, secret obstacle that we have against finding authentic, genuine relationships with people is our subconscious fear of growth. If we stick around in the bin of broken toys playing the queen or the king, at least we get to feel some sense of accomplishment at being the most evolved person we know. To find our tribe means finding people we can learn from, people who are better at some things than we are, people who have something to teach. We say we want it, but how many of us fear being a beginner more than loneliness and much more than being in the wrong crowd? There is a strange comfort, a sense of safety, to suffering and loneliness. To be happy, to find our family, we must be willing to let that go. — Vironika Tugaleva

An open beginner's mind is a powerful tool for developing patience. — Allan Lokos

Masters today, were Starters Yesterday, so begin now. — Bernard Kelvin Clive

The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless. — Shunryu Suzuki

There is really more hope in turkey production for the beginner who starts out by informing himself thoroughly and uses sound judgment in developing his turkey project than for the turkey raiser with years of experience and indifferent success." - From MARSDEN AND MARTIN'S TURKEY MANAGEMENT, 1945 — Don Schrider

Among gardeners, enthusiasm and experience rarely exist in equal measures. The beginner dreams of home-grown bouquets and baskets of ripe fruit, the veteran of many seasons has learned to expect slugs, mildew, and frost. — Roger Swain

If the angel deigns to come it will be because you have convinced her, not by tears but by your humble resolve to be always beginning; to be a beginner. — Rainer Maria Rilke

Exercise like a beginner if you ARE a beginner. — Dana Gore

Who is going to influence whom in the new association? Warren may have entered the ocean in California, but I am sitting down in Virginia with Ben Graham's beginner's book and "How to Read a Financial Report" by someone called Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith. I am told I have to finish Ben Graham very soon because Warren is unwilling to pay the small fine involved in having the book out of the Omaha public library too long. — Katharine Graham

It's called the principle of favorability. When you play cards the first time, you are almost sure to win. Beginner's luck. — Paulo Coelho

Long story short, ghosts just coming out of the closet sucked at communication. Probably as bad as a beginner ghost whisperer sucked at getting them to communicate. — C.C. Hunter

What if thou be saint or sinner,
Crooked gray-beard, straight beginner,
Empty paunch, or jolly dinner,
When Death thee shall call.
All like are rich or richer,
King with crown, and cross-legged stitcher,
When the grave hides all. — Richard Watson Gilder

On the Advantage of Cultivating Beginner's Mind "Experience often deeply embeds the assumptions that need to be questioned in the first place. When you have a lot of experience with something, you don't notice the things that are new about it. You don't notice the idiosyncrasies that need to be tweaked. You don't notice where the gaps are, what's missing, or what's not really working. — Timothy Ferriss

If you are fortunate enough to enjoy great success, you should never forget the spirit of the beginner, and not grow indolent and arrogant. — Kentetsu Takamori

Every morning I am a beginner. — Hanya Holm

Getting started is the most difficult thing to do; once you file it out, they rest of the journey is as soft as the straw. Be a good beginner. — Israelmore Ayivor

Beginner's luck is great for beginners. — Robert Fripp

A fiery, good beginner always stands higher than a master in mediocrity ... — Robert Schumann

Art keeps one young, I think, because it keeps one perpetually a beginner, perpetually a child. — Erica Jong

I love being a beginner. It can be a terrible feeling because you're ashamed of everything you do, but it's so exciting at the same time. — Charlotte Gainsbourg

Embrace the creativity and don't care about the result. It's better to be a beginner till the end of the life than waiting forever to be perfect. — Elizabeth Gilbert

Eternal beginner, starting over and over in a new place in new circumstances, with new languages, new people, a new commission. They had this in common: the continual rushed confrontation with change, the feeling of being hothoused, forced to bloom early, the exhausting exhilaration of doing the unreasonable not just adequately but well and with grace. — Mary Doria Russell

A knowledge of tactics is the foundation of positional play. This is a rule which has stood its test in chess history and one which we cannot impress forcibly enough upon the young chess player. A beginner should avoid Queen's Gambit and French Defence and play open games instead! While he may not win as many games at first, he will in the long run be amply compensated by acquiring a thorough knowledge of the game — Richard Reti

every professional was once a beginner — Helen Hayes

You know, there's something especially lonely about a gold medal hanging all by itself on a bedroom wall, something that says "fluke," or "beginner's luck," or "one in a million," but two gold medals, now that says something completely different. That says, "Oh, yeah, baby, this is the real deal! — Christopher Paul Curtis

One becomes a beginner after one thousand days of training and an expert after ten thousand days of practice. — Masutatsu Oyama

I've worked with a lot of first time directors; in fact, I enjoy it because there is a certain beginner's mind that they bring into a project that isn't loaded with the way things have been done before. There's a certain freedom to it. — Stephanie Allain

Will Thisbee gave me The Beginner's Cook-Book for Girl Guides. It was just the thing; the writer assumes you know nothing about cookery and writes useful hints - When adding eggs, break the shells first. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Always be a beginner at something. — Bill Buxton

I'm always tryin' to do something new, tryin' to look like a beginner. — Meshell Ndegeocello

Don't cluster too much plans to do within a relatively minimum time. As beginner, you must not cut your coat according to your elder brother's size. Know your limit. — Israelmore Ayivor

Indeed, being a beginner is very difficult right now. Book publishers are in a crisis, sales are dwindling, and publishing houses are losing money, doing their best to survive. It's a sign of the times, the emergence of new kinds of entertainment
there's nothing we can do about it. I don't think books will perish for good. They could become less widespread, though, falling even further behind movies and computer games. But we shouldn't be afraid of this, because books will always remain the entertainment of choice for intelligent people, of whom there are still many in this world. — Sergei Lukyanenko

In Japan, there is the phrase 'shoshin', which translates to 'beginner's mind'. Maintaining a beginner's mind is the goal of practicing. — Bob Smith

I know I'm not a great writer. I'm an extremely gifted oral communicator, but when it comes to writing, I'm just a beginner. — Marianne Williamson

Get used to your mortality.
It will eventually consume you
so why not pick up an addiction. — Pamela August Russell

Perfectionism doesn't believe in practice shots. It doesn't believe in improvement. Perfectionism has never heard that anything worth doing is worth doing badly
and that if we allow ourselves to do something badly we might in time become quite good at it. Perfectionism measures our beginner's work against the finished work of masters. Perfectionism thrives on comparison and competition. It doesn't know how to say, "Good try," or "Job well done." The critic does not believe in creative glee
or any glee at all, for that matter. No, perfectionism is a serious matter. — Julia Cameron

Seriously, if you really, truly don't understand basic terminology (which was at least half my problem with the adult-level "beginner" books), the children's section is the place to go. — Patricia C. Wrede

We strive always to have a beginner's mind. — Marc Benioff

A man ceases to be a beginner in any given science and becomes a master in that science when he has learned that he is going to be a beginner all his life. — Robin G. Collingwood

Write every day. Make writing a part of your life, but also don't be afraid of learning from others because I think you can. I still try to think of myself as a beginner because that way I can keep on learning. — Kimberly Willis Holt

In the mind of the beginner, all things are possible, But in the mind of the expert, only a few. Zen Master Suzuki-Roshi — Barbara L. Jordan

One becomes a beginner after 1000 days of training. One becomes a master after 10,000 days of practice. — Mas Oyama

The hardest conviction to get into the mind of a beginner is that the education upon which he is engaged is not a college course, not a medical course, but a life course, for which the work of a few years under teachers is but a preparation. — William Osler

I swim. I do a little bit of surfing. I would say I'm a beginner at surfing. I run. I cycle. I play a little bit of soccer. — Henry Ian Cusick

Before you dismiss a beginner's work, remember how much you sucked when you started. You probably sucked worse, actually. — Jason Fried

Eka-Nishtha or devotion to one ideal is absolutely necessary for the beginner in the practice of religious devotion. — Swami Vivekananda

If I have any 'message' worth giving to a beginner it is that there are no short cuts in photography. — Edward Weston

I was a beginner again. I practiced hard and used to listen very closely to recordings of American jazz drummers such as Tony Williams and Kenny Clarke. — Jamie Muir