Ecclesiastes 7:8
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and its finish counts for more than its start. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit, for patience is commended above pride. Every road taken and every plan and purpose and device, whether of pleasure or mirth or indulgence or excess, must therefore be followed out to its ultimate termination and judged by its final result rather than its opening promise.
No one should allow himself to be deluded or cajoled, nor deceive himself, nor rest in uncertainties or temporary expedients, but at every opening scene should ask what will come next. Since youth and beauty, mirth and joy, fame and honor, wealth and pomp, riot and hilarity, life and health, time and opportunity must all pass away, the end to be sought is blessedness and peace. Yet trusting this lesson is hard while painful losses mount and the wicked seem to prosper, when no just outcome is yet seen.