Ecclesiastes 7:8

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof As in ch. Ecclesiastes 6:11, the noun translated "thing" may mean "word" and this gives a preferable meaning. It cannot be said of everything, good and bad alike, that its "end is better than its beginning" (comp. Proverbs 5:3-4; Proverbs 16:25; Proverbs 23:32), and those who so interpret the maxim are obliged to limit its meaning to good things, or to assume that the end must be a good one. Some (as Ginsburg) give to the "word" the sense of "reproof," but this limitation is scarcely needed. It may be said of well-nigh every form of speech, for silence is better than speech, and "in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin." It is obvious that this furnishes a closer parallel to the second clause. The "patient in spirit" is the man who knows how to check and control his speech, and to listen to reproof. The "proud" (literally, the lofty or exalted) is one who has not learnt to curb his tongue, and to wait for the end that is better than the beginning. So interpreted the whole maxim finds a parallel in James 3:1-18, in the precepts of a thousand sages of all times and countries.