Almost everything comes from nothing.--Henry F. Amiel 

And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been...--Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892-1910) 

Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.--Meister Eckhart 

The beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression more readily taken.--Plato (The Republic) 

The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.--John Galsworthy 

Beginnings are sudden, but also insidious. They creep up on you sideways, they keep to the shadows, they lurk unrecognized. Then, later, they spring.--Margaret Atwood (The Blind Assassin) 

Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward.--Amy Tan