Meaning & Analysis
The physical acts of scratching an itch and eating a meal only require a single first action to get started; once initiated, they tend to continue, often with increasing intensity.
Insights
The Power of Initiation
The proverb is a metaphor for overcoming inertia. It suggests that the most challenging part of any task, project, or journey is taking the first step. Once initiated, the process often becomes self-sustaining and easier to continue.
Escalation of Desire
It illustrates how desires and habits, both good and bad, grow with indulgence. A small taste or single action can awaken a larger appetite or trigger a compulsive cycle, highlighting the difficulty of moderation once a boundary is crossed.
Self-Perpetuating Cycles
The proverb speaks to the nature of self-perpetuating cycles. Just as scratching can intensify an itch, leading to more scratching, certain behaviors can create conditions that demand their own continuation, locking one into a feedback loop.
Psychology of Momentum
This proverb captures the psychological principle of behavioral activation, suggesting that the primary obstacle to any action is overcoming initial inertia. Once begun, an activity often generates its own momentum, a concept relevant in contexts from overcoming procrastination to understanding the escalation of habits.
Dual Moral Application
The pairing of a potentially negative, compulsive act (scratching) with a necessary one (eating) gives the proverb a dual moral application. It can serve as encouragement to begin a difficult but necessary task, or as a warning against indulging in a seemingly minor vice that could escalate.
Folk Wisdom and Human Nature
The proverb's long history and its parallels in other sayings, such as 'Appetite comes with eating', reflect a timeless piece of folk wisdom about human nature. It underscores a universal understanding of how desire and behavior are not static but are amplified by the very act of engagement.
Rhetorical Devices
Parallelism
The proverb uses parallelism by pairing two distinct bodily actions ('scratching and eating') to illustrate a single underlying principle, making the wisdom feel universal and memorable.
Archaic Diction
The use of 'wants' in its archaic sense of 'lacks' or 'needs' gives the phrase a classic, authoritative tone. It personifies the actions as having a need that only a beginning can fulfill.
Concrete Imagery
The proverb's power comes from its use of visceral, everyday physical actions. This grounding in common bodily experience makes its abstract message about momentum and desire immediately relatable and intuitive.
Transcription
Quotations
(Eating and clawing)
As to eating, or scratching, all lyes in the beginning.
*Spoken when People eat more than they thought they could, or to persuade People of weak Stomachs to begin.
To eat, and to scratch, a Man need but begin.
(They say, eating and scratching)
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.