Tommy Tune and ensemble performing in
the Broadway musical Seesaw (dir. Michael Bennett, 1973)
Your final return will not diminish / And you can be the cream of the crop -
It's not where you start, it's where you finish / And you're gonna finish on top! [1]
I.
Commenting on my temptation of Christ post (7 August 2026), an anonymous demon makes some fascinating points and encourages readers to investigate certain non-canonical texts classified as biblical apocrypha.
But they also write this: "It's not where writers begin but where they end that generally tells the final truth of their legacy ..."
In other words, they take a disappointing turn into tired cliché by dressing up a maxim that is repeatedly used by sports psychologists, motivational speakers, self-help authors, and sparkly showbiz types rather than those who are genuinely spawned by the Devil and delight in speaking falsehoods rather than mere platitudes.
II.
Just to be clear: I'm not denying the phrase it's not where you start, it's where you finish may have some truth content - and it certainly expresses a comforting, universally understood sentiment, which is precisely why it remains popular among those who have experienced failure or feel themselves to be slow starters in life.
But I hate it and regard it as a belonging to an underdog narrative: You too can overcome base origins or personal misfortune and achieve the greatness you deserve! In this way, it reinforces what Nietzsche termed the slave revolt in morals [2].
Philosophically, it's suspect too in promoting the idea of agency - i.e., that your individual choices and effort matter more than your initial circumstances or fate: The future, my friends, is unwritten - so climb up that ladder and go for it!
In reality, of course, starting positions - such as wealth, access to education, and social connections - heavily determine the direction and final outcome of your life. Those who are lucky enough to have a good start will invariably finish ahead of the game.
Song lyrics asserting if you start at the top, you're certain to drop and that nobody starts a winner [3] are - to not put too fine a point on it - a load of old cobblers, no matter how enthusiastically they're performed.
Ultimately, this uplifting maxim is a banal piece of pseudo-wisdom that ignores systemic inequalities, while encouraging all and sundry to believe that they might be rewarded by the bitch-goddess Success.
It's one thing for some all-too-human commentator like Alex Guillien [4] to buy into the myth of it's not where you start, it's where you finish, but I expect so much more in the way of satanic insight from my more demonic readers ...
Notes
[1] From the song 'It's Not Where You Start', which featured in the American musical Seesaw (1973); music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The Broadway show was based on William Gibson's play Two for the Seesaw (1958). Click on the link provided to listen to the original Broadway cast recording, provided to YouTube by DRG Records.
Alternatively, if you wish to see multi-talented Tommy Tune and Co. perform the song - which was the big showstopper - then click here. Funnily enough, although I hate the maxim, I love the song and this performance - choreographed by Michael Bennett - is fabulous; it quite literally has it all (including confetti and balloons).
[2] The original German expression used by Nietzsche is der Sklavenaufstand in der Moral and it appears in the First Essay of Zur Genealogie der Moral (1887).
[3] See note [1] above.
[4] Alex Guillien, It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish, Medium (14 June 2016).
While researching this post, I was obliged to read some really piss-poor pieces by authors concerned with wellness, fitness, and inspiration, but I think that this one by Guillien best encapsulates all that I find so objectionable about the endlessly upbeat optimism of those who believe that "opportunities are ever-present", that success is "the progressive realization of a worthy goal" and that the aim in life is to become the "best version of YOU!"
