Never Do Things By Halves.
Never Do Things By Halves.
Meaning in plain English
The instruction rejects doing things by halves. It favours a complete or wholehearted effort over leaving an undertaking inadequately done.
Example
Someone completes the agreed part of a project carefully rather than leaving essential steps unfinished.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
Halves makes incompleteness visible without defining the task’s proper scope. A useful application can concern finishing agreed work well. It does not require continuing an unsuitable project forever or make a staged, limited task inferior when that scope is intentional.
When to use it
Use it to discuss completing an appropriate agreed scope.
Keep in mind
Stopping or changing an undertaking can be reasonable; staged work is not automatically inadequate.
Edsverb editorial interpretation · agent reviewed · 2026-10-05. This explains the saying; it does not establish its historical origin.
- Source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 164; PDF page 28
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