--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing…" description: "\"“...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing ever but nothing and never, nothing ever but lifeless words.”\" — Samuel Beckett" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71f/samuel-beckett-365_begun_nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ev_2944076.png" --- # ...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing ever but nothing… ![“...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing ever but nothing and never, nothing ever but lifeless words.” quote by Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71f/samuel-beckett-365_begun_nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ev_2944076.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71f/samuel-beckett-365_begun_nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ev_2944076.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71f/samuel-beckett-365_begun_nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ev_2944076.png) > ““...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing ever but nothing and never, nothing ever but lifeless words.”” [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Expresses that beginnings are futile and words often lack meaning. **In simple terms:** Beginnings are empty; words can be lifeless. Key Takeaway Seek substance over empty gestures. Themes existentialism meaninglessness language beginnings Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - public speaking - personal reflection Key Concepts philosophical nihilism literary critique Questions to Reflect On - How do you find meaning in beginnings? - When are words truly meaningful? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on emptiness can cause despair. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Begun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begun/) [Begun Lifeless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begun-lifeless-4403772/) [Lifeless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifeless/) [Lifeless Words](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifeless-words-4403771/) [Nothing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nothing/) [Nothingness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nothingness/) [Texts-for-nothing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/texts-for-nothing-185100/) [Words](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/words/) ## Related quotes > [“With a cluther of limbs and organs, all that is needed to live again, to hold out a little time, I'll call that living,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/with-a-cluther-of-limbs-and-organs-all-that-is-needed-to-live-again/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“...then much, then little, then nothing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/then-much-then-little-then-nothing/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“There's my life, why not, it is one, if you like, if you must, I don't say no, this evening. There has to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/there-s-my-life-why-not-it-is-one-if-you-like-if-you-must-i-don-t-say/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“Name, no, nothing is namable, tell, no, nothing can be told, what then, I don't know, I shouldn't have begun.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/name-no-nothing-is-namable-tell-no-nothing-can-be-told-what-then-i/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“That is why nothing appears, all is silent, one is frightened to be born, no, one wishes one were, so as to begin to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/that-is-why-nothing-appears-all-is-silent-one-is-frightened-to-be/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“Where would I go, if I could go, who would I be, if I could be, what would I say, if I had a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/where-would-i-go-if-i-could-go-who-would-i-be-if-i-could-be-what/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“...this evening it's too late, too late to get things right, I'll go to sleep, so that I may say, hear myself say, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/this-evening-it-s-too-late-too-late-to-get-things-right-i-ll-go-to/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“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. 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/) > [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 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/) > [“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/) > [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 Samuel Beckett > [“It was December, I had never felt so cold, the eel soup lay heavy on my stomach, I was afraid I'd die, I turned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/it-was-december-i-had-never-felt-so-cold-the-eel-soup-lay-heavy-on-my/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“To be always what I am - and so changed from what I was.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/to-be-always-what-i-am-and-so-changed-from-what-i-was/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [To what will love not stoop!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/to-what-will-love-not-stoop/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [With all this darkness round me I feel less alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/with-all-this-darkness-round-me-i-feel-less-alone/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“You may say it is all in my head, and indeed sometimes it seems to me I am in a head and that these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/you-may-say-it-is-all-in-my-head-and-indeed-sometimes-it-seems-to-me/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“Here he stood. Here he sat. Here he knelt. Here he lay. Here he moved, to and fro, from the door to the window,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/here-he-stood-here-he-sat-here-he-knelt-here-he-lay-here-he-moved-to/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/what-are-we-doing-here-that-is-the-question-and-we-are-blessed-in/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [I shall state silences more competently than ever a better man spangled the butterflies of vertigo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/i-shall-state-silences-more-competently-than-ever-a-better-man/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [It is useless not to seek, not to want, for when you cease to seek you start to find, and when you cease to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/it-is-useless-not-to-seek-not-to-want-for-when-you-cease-to-seek-you/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment. How many people can boast as much?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/we-are-not-saints-but-we-have-kept-our-appointment-how-many-people/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [The new light above my table is a great improvement. With all this darkness around me I feel less alone. (Pause.) In a way.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/the-new-light-above-my-table-is-a-great-improvement-with-all-this/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [I lay down across her with my face in her breasts and my hand on her. We lay there without moving. But under us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/i-lay-down-across-her-with-my-face-in-her-breasts-and-my-hand-on-her/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [Women are all the bloody sameyou can't love for five minutes without wanting it abolished in brats and house bloody wifery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/women-are-all-the-bloody-sameyou-can-t-love-for-five-minutes-without/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“ESTRAGON: Do you think God sees me? VLADIMIR: You must close your eyes. Estragon closes his eyes, staggers worse. ESTRAGON: (stopping, brandishing his fists,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/estragon-do-you-think-god-sees-me-vladimir-you-must-close-your-eyes/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [Deplorable mania, when something happens, to inquire what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/deplorable-mania-when-something-happens-to-inquire-what/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) [Explore all 609 Samuel Beckett quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) ## 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": "“...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing ever but nothing and never, nothing ever but lifeless words.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Samuel Beckett" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ever-but-nothing-and-never/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Begun" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ever-but-nothing-and-never/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71f/samuel-beckett-365_begun_nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ev_2944076.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71f/samuel-beckett-365_begun_nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ev_2944076.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71f/samuel-beckett-365_begun_nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ev_2944076.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing ever but nothing and never, nothing ever but lifeless words.” — Samuel Beckett", "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": "Samuel Beckett", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“...nothing ever as much as begun,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ever-but-nothing-and-never/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/nothing-ever-as-much-as-begun-nothing-ever-but-nothing-and-never/#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 } } ] } ```