--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was in the middle before I knew that I…" description: "\"“I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”\" — Jane Austen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/jane-austen-39_quote_i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i_893455.jpg" --- # I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun. ![“I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” quote by Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/jane-austen-39_quote_i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i_893455.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/jane-austen-39_quote_i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i_893455.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/jane-austen-39_quote_i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i_893455.jpg) > ““I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”” [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Highlights self-awareness emerging after an experience has already begun. **In simple terms:** Realization often follows the start of an action. Key Takeaway Reflect on early stages of projects. Themes self-awareness growth timing Mood contemplative insightful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - career start - creative writing - learning new skills - relationship building Key Concepts Psychology personal development Questions to Reflect On - When did you first notice you were already engaged in a task? - How can early reflection improve outcomes? A Different Perspective Self‑recognition can be delayed, causing missed opportunities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Begun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begun/) [Knew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knew/) [Knew Begun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knew-begun-1171602/) [Middle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle/) [Middle Knew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-knew-1171601/) ## Related quotes > [“How could you begin?’ said she. ‘I can comprehend your going on when you had once made a beginning, but what could set you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/how-could-you-begin-said-she-i-can-comprehend-your-going-on-when-you/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-cannot-fix-on-the-hour-or-the-spot-or-the-look-or-the-words-which/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Somebody scoffed, Oh, you'll never to that - At least no one ever has done it; But he took off his coat and he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-guest/somebody-scoffed-oh-you-ll-never-to-that-at-least-no-one-ever-has/) [Edgar Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-guest/) > [“Harriet was one of those, who, having once begun, would be always in love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/harriet-was-one-of-those-who-having-once-begun-would-be-always-in-love/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [She was one of those, who, having, once begun, would be always in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/she-was-one-of-those-who-having-once-begun-would-be-always-in-love/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“He knew her illnesses; they never occurred but for her own convenience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/he-knew-her-illnesses-they-never-occurred-but-for-her-own-convenience/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I believe BMX has shaped me into who I am today, so if this journey never would have begun, then who knows the person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donny-robinson/i-believe-bmx-has-shaped-me-into-who-i-am-today-so-if-this-journey/) [Donny Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donny-robinson/) > [“There's no way to slow it down now it has begun.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-foxlee/there-s-no-way-to-slow-it-down-now-it-has-begun/) [Karen Foxlee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-foxlee/) > [We were starting to get old before our time. I'm 10 years older than Kingy, but we'd both begun to shuffle, the knees were sore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-myers/we-were-starting-to-get-old-before-our-time-i-m-10-years-older-than/) [Dave Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-myers/) > [I had begun to write novels because of a fierce, self-serving impulse in my own heart. 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One for all, and all for one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-chester/begin-the-fun-the-fun-s-begun-one-for-all-and-all-for-one/) [Laura Chester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-chester/) > [It's a bore - B-O-R-E - when you find you've begun to rot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-hepburn/it-s-a-bore-b-o-r-e-when-you-find-you-ve-begun-to-rot/) [Katharine Hepburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-hepburn/) > [“My life has begun to feel like an epilogue.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-flynn/my-life-has-begun-to-feel-like-an-epilogue/) [Gillian Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-flynn/) ## More by Jane Austen > [Let us have the luxury of silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/let-us-have-the-luxury-of-silence/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, more moderate!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/how-earnestly-did-she-then-wish-that-her-former-opinions-had-been/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“it is very well worth-while to be tormented for two or three years of one's life, for the sake of being able to read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-is-very-well-worth-while-to-be-tormented-for-two-or-three-years-of/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [ “Everybody is taken in at some period or another. \[...\] In marriage especially. \[...\] There is not one in a hundred of either sex,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/everybody-is-taken-in-at-some-period-or-another-in-marriage/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [She knew that what Marianne and her mother conjectured one moment, they believed the next: that with them, to wish was to hope, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/she-knew-that-what-marianne-and-her-mother-conjectured-one-moment/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“…for I look upon the Frasers to be about as unhappy as most other married people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/for-i-look-upon-the-frasers-to-be-about-as-unhappy-as-most-other/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“It raises my spleen more than any thing, to have the pretence of being asked, of being given a choice, and at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-raises-my-spleen-more-than-any-thing-to-have-the-pretence-of-being/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [her spirits wanted the solitude and silence which only numbers could give.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/her-spirits-wanted-the-solitude-and-silence-which-only-numbers-could/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“But in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/but-in-such-cases-as-these-a-good-memory-is-unpardonable/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its-propriety/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/such-squeamish-youths-as-cannot-bear-to-be-connected-with-a-little/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“I must tell you what you will not ask, though I may wish it unsaid the next moment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-must-tell-you-what-you-will-not-ask-though-i-may-wish-it-unsaid-the/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/lady-catherine-seemed-quite-astonished-at-not-receiving-a-direct/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“He had suffered, and he had learnt to think, two advantages that he had never known before…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/he-had-suffered-and-he-had-learnt-to-think-two-advantages-that-he-had/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Eliot's character; vanity of person and of situation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/vanity-was-the-beginning-and-the-end-of-sir-walter-eliot-s-character/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) [Explore all 2,013 Jane Austen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) ## More Begun quotes > [“My life has begun to feel like an epilogue.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-flynn/my-life-has-begun-to-feel-like-an-epilogue/) [Gillian Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-flynn/) > [It's a bore - B-O-R-E - when you find you've begun to rot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-hepburn/it-s-a-bore-b-o-r-e-when-you-find-you-ve-begun-to-rot/) [Katharine Hepburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-hepburn/) > [“Begin the fun, the fun's begun. One for all, and all for one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-chester/begin-the-fun-the-fun-s-begun-one-for-all-and-all-for-one/) [Laura Chester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-chester/) > [I have always believed that if you need to take your clothes off to get your man, you've begun to lose the battle. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bipasha-basu/i-have-always-believed-that-if-you-need-to-take-your-clothes-off-to/) [Bipasha Basu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bipasha-basu/) > [I've been writing songs all along, and since moving to Nashville in the late-'80s, I'd begun writing something like 15-20 songs a year, instead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-leadon/i-ve-been-writing-songs-all-along-and-since-moving-to-nashville-in/) [Bernie Leadon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-leadon/) > [I had begun to write novels because of a fierce, self-serving impulse in my own heart. I had not considered the potential in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/i-had-begun-to-write-novels-because-of-a-fierce-self-serving-impulse/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [We were starting to get old before our time. I'm 10 years older than Kingy, but we'd both begun to shuffle, the knees were sore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-myers/we-were-starting-to-get-old-before-our-time-i-m-10-years-older-than/) [Dave Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-myers/) > [“There's no way to slow it down now it has begun.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-foxlee/there-s-no-way-to-slow-it-down-now-it-has-begun/) [Karen Foxlee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-foxlee/) > [I believe BMX has shaped me into who I am today, so if this journey never would have begun, then who knows the person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donny-robinson/i-believe-bmx-has-shaped-me-into-who-i-am-today-so-if-this-journey/) [Donny Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donny-robinson/) > [I've gotten into two fights since I've begun studying the martial arts, and each time, I was worried I'd kill the guy. One of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-butcher/i-ve-gotten-into-two-fights-since-i-ve-begun-studying-the-martial/) [Jim Butcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-butcher/) > [I'm a vegetarian, but now, on my doctor's orders, I have begun eating egg white.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zeenat-aman/i-m-a-vegetarian-but-now-on-my-doctor-s-orders-i-have-begun-eating/) [Zeenat Aman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zeenat-aman/) > [Everything has already begun before, the first line of the first page of every novel refers to something that has already happened outside the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italo-calvino/everything-has-already-begun-before-the-first-line-of-the-first-page/) [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) > [I've begun to think like a Jew, to feel like a Jew.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-ve-begun-to-think-like-a-jew-to-feel-like-a-jew/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [Once a job it has begun, do not stop until it's done. Whether it is big or small, do it well or not all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bear-grylls/once-a-job-it-has-begun-do-not-stop-until-it-s-done-whether-it-is-big/) [Bear Grylls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bear-grylls/) > [The Founders were anything but demigods to themselves and their contemporaries, who recognized full well that the experiment in self-government had only begun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/the-founders-were-anything-but-demigods-to-themselves-and-their/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) [Browse all 190 Begun quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begun/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Austen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i-had-begun/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Begun" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i-had-begun/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/jane-austen-39_quote_i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i_893455.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/jane-austen-39_quote_i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i_893455.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/jane-austen-39_quote_i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i_893455.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” — Jane Austen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jane Austen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I was in the middle before...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i-had-begun/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-was-in-the-middle-before-i-knew-that-i-had-begun/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```