A hard beginning maketh a good ending.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

And so never ending, but always descending.

Robert Southey (1774-1843): The Cataract of Lodore.

When the gust hath blown his fill,

Ending on the rustling leaves

With minute drops from off the eaves.

John Milton (1608-1674): Il Penseroso. Line 128.

Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,

Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasures.

War, he sung, is toil and trouble;

Honour but an empty bubble;

Never ending, still beginning,

Fighting still, and still destroying.

If all the world be worth the winning,

Think, oh think it worth enjoying:

Lovely Thais sits beside thee,

Take the good the gods provide thee.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Alexander's Feast. Line 97.