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Around the Internet, "When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you
are only halfway there" is floating around as a Japanese proverb.

A [Google
search](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enJP903JP903&biw=2327&bih=1180&ei=3j81X5KpGcbmwQOB7rSIAQ&q=japanese+proverb+%22only+halfway+there%22&oq=japanese+proverb+%22only+halfway+there%22&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQA1CJGFiiG2CnHGgAcAB4AIABdIgBiwWSAQMwLjaYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6wAEB&sclient=psy-
ab&ved=0ahUKEwiSkL6upJjrAhVGc3AKHQE3DREQ4dUDCAw&uact=5) for `Japanese proverb
"only halfway there"` gives 12,000+ hits and several Instagram-ready quote
photos. None of the first 100 hits cite a Japanese source.

What is the actual proverb in Japanese?
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2020-08-13T13:28:58.863
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2020-08-13T16:58:43.923
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question
proverbs
Proverb? "When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there."
I think the standard version is
[百里を行く者は九十を半ばとす](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E7%99%BE%E9%87%8C%E3%82%92%E8%A1%8C%E3%81%8F%E8%80%85%E3%81%AF%E4%B9%9D%E5%8D%81%E3%82%92%E5%8D%8A%E3%81%B0%E3%81%A8%E3%81%99/)
"Who travels a hundred [_li_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_\(unit\)) calls
ninety a half", because this is the original form attested in [a Chinese
chronicle](https://ctext.org/zhan-guo-ce/wei-qin-wang#n49690).

There is another quote from a Japanese writer [Ryūnosuke
Akutagawa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABnosuke_Akutagawa), which says
[百里の半ばを九十九里とする](https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000879/files/43751_27955.html)
"assumes the half of a hundred _li_ to be ninety-nine _li_ ".

Either way, I could not find an exact Japanese source that tells the number
"95%". And I doubt that it exists.
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2020-08-13T16:58:43.923
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answer