Second Firsts Quotes & Sayings

The idea should come first, the startup should come second. — Sam Altman

Two possibilities: making oneself infinitely small or being so. The second is perfection, that is to say, inactivity, the first is beginning, that is to say, action. — Franz Kafka

Why become a second-rate Ravel when you're already a first-rate Gershwin? — Maurice Ravel

Start close in,
don't take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don't want to take. — David Whyte

My first term I sang Al Green ... in my second term, I'm going with Young Jeezy . — Barack Obama

The things required for prosperous labor, prosperous manufactures, and prosperous commerce are three. First, liberty; second, liberty; third, liberty. — Henry Ward Beecher

Do not confuse excellence with perfection. The first is possible to achieve, the second is probably not. — Neale Donald Walsch

Preferment goes by letter and affection, And not by old gradation, where each second Stood heir to th's first. — William Shakespeare

Good mescaline comes on slow. The first hour is all waiting, then about halfway through the second hour you start cursing the creep who burned you, because nothing is happening ... and then ZANG! — Hunter S. Thompson

To a value investor, investments come in three varieties: undervalued at one price, fairly valued at another price, and overvalued at still some higher price. The goal is to buy the first, avoid the second, and sell the third. — Seth Klarman

The first is based in fear, the second in fearlessness. — Rhonda Britten

I forgive. First, because I've been forgiven by God. Second, unforgiveness makes me miserable. And third, I'm going to need more forgiveness in the future. So we don't forgive for their benefit. We actually forgive for ours. — Rick Warren

The first mark of intelligence, to be sure, is not to start things; the second mark of intelligence is to pursue to the end what you have started. — Franklin Edgerton

There are two questions that we have to ask ourselves. The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?' — Howard Thurman

Arthur Clarke says that I am first in science and second in science fiction in accordance with an agreement we have made. I say he is first in science fiction and second in science. — Isaac Asimov

There is a great deal of quarrelling in the houses, and contending for power and authority; and the second wife is against the first wife, perhaps, in some instances. — Heber C. Kimball

The mass starts into a million suns; Earths round each sun with quick explosions burst, And second planets issue from the first. — Erasmus Darwin

If the first mark of a true and living church is love, the second is
suffering. The one is naturally consequent on the other. A
willingness to suffer proves the genuineness of love. — John Stott

Ill-luck is, in nine cases out of ten, the result of taking pleasure first and duty second, instead of duty first and pleasure second. — Theodore T. Munger

It is a simple fact that you can't steal second base if your foot is firmly planted on first. — Irene Rosenfeld

No one contends that the other Amendments that preserve rights of 'the people' -the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth-do not preserve individuals' rights. The same must be true of the Second. — Jed Babbin

Virtue and vice are both prophets; the first, of certain good; the second, of pain or else of penitence. — Ralph Venning

After getting the first hundred pounds, it is more easy to get the second. — Benjamin Franklin

The first step is to fill your life with positive faith that will help you through anything. The second step is to start where you are. — Norman Vincent Peale

The first duty of a woman is to be pretty, the second is to be well-groomed, and the third is never to contradict. — W. Somerset Maugham

The first 90 percent of a revolution is creating the product or service; the second 90 percent is evangelizing it. At the beginning of a revolution, you need evangelists, not sales, because leverage spreads news. — Guy Kawasaki

Life can be difficult sometimes, it gets bumpy. What with family and kids and things not going exactly like you planned. But that's what makes it interesting. In life the first act is always exciting. The second act, that is where the depth comes in. — Joyce Van Patten

Be a learner first, a master second, and a student always. — Ernie J Zelinski

First prize was a week in Philadelphia. Second prize was two weeks. — W.C. Fields

You gotta be hungry for it. You've got to put everything you got on it. EVERYTHING! Every second. You have to be the first one in line. That's how leaders are born. — Ray Lewis

It is a happy thing for us that this is really all we have to concern ourselves about
what to do next. No man can do the second thing. He can do the first. — George MacDonald

There are two kinds of charlatan: the man who is called a charlatan, and the man who really is one. The first is the quack who cures you; the second is the highly qualified person who doesn't. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

I can honestly say that if I was told at this moment that I was dying, not my first, not my second, but certainly my third thought would be that I should never see Italy again. — Millicent Fawcett

There are three stages in the revelation of truth. The first is to be ridiculed, the second is to be resisted and the third is to be considered self-evident. — Arthur Schopenhauer

The spinning wheel became the symbol of Indian independence. So we always say, "if the spinning wheel was the symbol of our first independence, then the seed is the symbol of our second independence." — Vandana Shiva

Mankind divides itself into two classes,
benefactors and malefactors. The second class is vast; the first a handful. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I guess the second-term team is not quite as adoring as the first. — Peggy Noonan

Watercolor is like life. Better get it right the first time
you don't get a second chance! — Sergei Bongart

In every religion the priest insists on five things -
First: There is a God.
Second: He has made known his will.
Third: He has selected me to explain this message.
Fourth: We will now take up a collection; and
Fifth: Those who fail to subscribe will certainly be damned. — Robert Green Ingersoll

There are two sides to this Baptism: The first is, you possess the Spirit; The second is that the Spirit possesses you. — Smith Wigglesworth

Habit is a second nature, and what was at first pleasure, is next necessity. — Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The tripartite structure - so you remember the third brother, second brother, first brother, or the first dervish, second dervish, and third dervish. This is very like embroidering a cloth, as you have to know where you are with the knots. — Marina Warner

Roughly, the action of a character should be unpredictable before it has been shown, inevitable when it has been shown. In the first half of a novel, the unpredictability should be the more striking. In the second half, the inevitability should be the more striking. — Elizabeth Bowen

Boys, the first drink is a boon, the second is a gamble, the third is poor judgment, and then the rate of descent gets steep — Garrison Keillor

Three men were laying brick. The first was asked: " What are you doing? He answered: " Laying some brick." The second man was asked: " What are you working for? " He answered: " Five dollars a day." The third man was asked: " What are you doing? He answered: " I am helping to build a great cathedral." Which man are you? — Charles R. Schwab

You have to become the 'first of yourself' instead of trying to become the second of anyone. — BoA

Kenney knows two essential truths about melodrama: First that it is most powerful when combined with irony and understatement; and second that it is a salient feature of modern life. — Stefan Kanfer

The first part of a good work is the will, the second is vigorous effort in the doing of it. God is the author of both. It is, therefore, robbery from God to arrogate anything to ourselves, either in the will or the act. — John Calvin

The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life led by human beings; the second was that human beings could survive a life in hotels. — John Irving

A person who takes a walk of 100 feet and a person who walks 2,000 miles have one major thing in common. They both need to take a first step before they take a second step. — Zelig Pliskin

It seems to be typical of life in America ... that the second generation has no time to talk to the first. — James A. Baldwin

We're here to be worshipers first and workers only second. We take a convert and immediately make a worker out of him. God never meant it to be so. God meant that a convert should learn to be a worshiper, and after that he can learn to be a worker ... The work done by a worshiper will have eternity in it. — Aiden Wilson Tozer

The successful salesperson cares first for the customer, second for the products. — Philip Kotler

I'm in denial in its lesser state. It will take me a second. People around me will notice my mania first. And, my depression. — Carrie Fisher

It doesn't take much to produce a good merchant of cash-and-carry love: just courage, an infinite capacity for perpetual suspicion, stamina on a 24-hour-a-day basis, the deathless conviction that the customer is always wrong, a fair knowledge of first and second aid, do-it-yourself gynecology, judo - and a tremendous sense of humor. — Sally Stanford

Thought is the seed of action; but action is as much its second form as thought is its first. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

In life, the first act is always exciting but it is the second act - that's where the depth comes in. — Joyce Van Patten

It's terrifying. Women make their first film, their second film, and then it's like a nightmare, right, to make the third or fourth? I mean, it's almost like men can have three films in a row that don't do that well and keep on going. — Julie Delpy

What is the proper limit for wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary; and, second, to have what is enough. — Seneca The Elder

I was always more interested in being a woman first and an advertising person second. — Shirley Polykoff

The Lord wants us to have a threefold confidence. First, we are to be confident that He loves us in our weakness. Second, we are to be confident that He esteems our weak love for Him as genuine.Third, we are to be confident that He still entrusts us with the calling that He originally gave us. — Mike Bickle

The first theory is that if we make the rich richer, somehow they will let a part of their prosperity trickle down to the rest of us. The second theory was the theory that if we make the average of mankind comfortable and secure, their prosperity will rise upward through the ranks. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The unlocking of the kundalini, which occurs by meditating on the first, second and third chakras, is the entrance into the planes of power. — Frederick Lenz

It's not unheard of, in the course of life, that if there's enough interest in it, we could consider going a second season or doing another chapter. I keep looking at it as books in a series, and this season is the first book. — Remi Aubuchon

A second wife is hateful to the children of the first; a viper is not more hateful. — Euripides

All logic texts are divided into two parts. In the first part, on deductible logic, the fallacies are explained; in the second part, on inductive logic, they are committed. — Morris Raphael Cohen

I can't relate to Mansfield or Monroe. The only one I can relate to is Bardot. First of all, there's a certain physical similarity between us. Second of all, she was very strong
she didn't have that affected sexuality. — Pia Zadora

Second place is the first loser. — Dennis Anderson

I like to work half a day. I don't care of it's the first twelve hours or the second twelve hurs. I just put in my half every day. It keeps me out of trouble. — Kemmons Wilson

First, there is the person one thinks he is and the appearance one thinks he has. Then there is the thing one actually is, and there is that which the others think, and here a myriad-faced being arose in her thought, but the second came back as being more difficult to know, for what eyes would see it and where would it stay? — Elizabeth Madox Roberts

Do first things first, and second things not at all. — Peter Drucker

My technique, starting with a quick outline in pencil, is designed to record first impressions, with no time for second thoughts. — John Newbery

You can remember the second and the third and the fourth time, but there's no time like the first. It's always there. — Shelagh Delaney

Love is a momentary upwelling of three tightly interwoven events: First, a sharing of one or more positive emotions between you and another; second, a synchrony between your and the other person's biochemistry and behaviors; and third, a reflected motive to invest in each other's well-being that brings mutual care — Barbara Fredrickson

The more desires you have, the more misery you will create for yourself. Misery is a consequence of desiring - and you go on desiring. In fact, you think that if your desires are fulfilled your miseries will disappear. In the first place they are never fulfilled; in the second place, if they are fulfilled, nothing is fulfilled by their fulfillment. You remain as empty as you have always been - or even more, because up to now you were occupied with a certain desire; now even that is fulfilled. A deep deep emptiness comes to you. — Rajneesh

Of the three prerequisites of genius; the first is soul; the second is soul; and the third is soul. — Edwin Percy Whipple

The first priority of my life is to be holy, and the second goal of my life is to be a scholar. — John Wesley

Depend upon it, the first universal characteristic of all great art is Tenderness, as the second is Truth. — John Ruskin

Two bricklayers work side by side. The first lays bricks. The second builds magnificent cathedrals. Think small vs. think big. — Richard Branson

He was a great president in his first term; in his second term, he wasn't the same Grover Cleveland he was to begin with ... Cleveland reestablished the presidency by being not only a chief executive but a leader. — Harry S. Truman

No sheep wants to be first through the gate, but every sheep will be second. — Tucker Max

Habit starts at the second crime. At the first one, something is ending. — Albert Camus

Lucky accidents seldom happen to writers who don't work. You will find that you may rewrite and rewrite a poem and it never seems quite right. Then a much better poem may come rather fast and you wonder why you bothered with all that work on the earlier poem. Actually, the hard work you do on one poem is put in on all poems. The hard work on the first poem is responsible for the sudden ease of the second. If you just sit around waiting for the easy ones, nothing will come. Get to work. — Richard Hugo

Its better to be second while everyone is saying You should have been first than be first when everyone says You should be second. — Karina Smirnoff

In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act precipitously without thought and the second is to not act at all. — Carl Icahn

One magnitude is said to be the limit of another magnitude when the second may approach the first within any given magnitude, however small, though the second may never exceed the magnitude it approaches. — Jean Le Rond D'Alembert

I cannot imagine live without two things,
First is cigarette and second are girls. — Wiz Khalifa

My strength is basically my get off. It is overpowering. I can get after the quarterback on first, second and third down. I pride myself on being an every down guy. — Darius Philon

There are only 2 reasons that someone would want something in their life and not get it. First, they don't know what to do and second, they know what to do and don't know how to get themselves to do it consistently, if at all. — Marshall Sylver

The artist spends the first part of his life with the dead, the second with the living, and the third with himself. — Pablo Picasso

The first reaction is, get defensive. Second reaction is, what are we going to do about it? — Henry Blodget

Waterloo is a battle of the first rank won by a captain of the second — Victor Hugo

Believers have just as much to fear from legalism as from waywardness. The first detracts from the beauty of the message, while the second mars it content. — Max Anders

Because all writers are human beings first and writers second, my guess is that any advice for living with a writer is about the same as advice for living with a plumber or a refrigerator salesperson. — Clyde Edgerton

A fool hath no dialogue within himself, the first thought carrieth him without the reply of a second. — E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl Of Halifax

Surely a gentle sister is the second best gift to a man; and it is first in point of occurrence; for the wife comes after. — Herman Melville

People exaggerate Corruption in Nigeria. It is not
even our first or second problem, maybe the third — Atiku Abubakar

Robbie Keane's not the second choice, he's my first choice. But Jermain Defoe is as well. — Martin Jol

I actually knew Sully's sister, and I was in a band called Stripmind, and then I became roommates with Sully and being out of a band, he asked if I wanted to join in his. Tony was originally the second guitarist in the band; a guy by the name of Lee Richards was the first. The rest is pretty much history. — Robbie Merrill

My take on the torture thing and even drones is: If we're going to get into assassination and torture, the second question is the morality, but the first is the effectiveness of it. — Robert Baer