a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

English dictionary entry

Meanings

proverb

Even the longest and most difficult ventures have a starting point.

Pronunciation

En-us-a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.oga

Word forms

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step a thousand-mile journey begins with the first step

Etymology

Calque from Chinese 千里之行，始於足下 (qiānlǐ zhī xíng, shǐyú zú xià), quoted by the Chinese philosopher Laozi in the Tao Te Ching. This quote is sometimes erroneously attributed to Laozi's contemporary, Confucius, or to the Japanese.

Synonyms

take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves many a mickle makes a muckle every little helps little and often fills the purse

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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