Learn English – Meaning of a quote in the movie Casino (1995)

Interpretation of literature is off-topic on this website, and it seems very likely to me that the people who quoted this sentence of Goethe in translation may have intended a meaning quite different from what Goethe intended in the original.

The actual Goethe quote goes:

“Here is your indenture,” said the Abbé: “take it to heart; it is of weighty import.” Wilhelm lifted, opened it, and read:

INDENTURE

Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient. To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome. Every beginning is cheerful; the threshold is the place of expectation. The boy stands astonished, his impressions guide him; he learns sportfully, seriousness comes on him by surprise. Imitation is born with us; what should be imitated is not easy to discover. The excellent is rarely found, more rarely valued. The height charms us, the steps to it do not: with the summit in our eye, we love to walk along the plain. …

In German:

Die Kunst ist lang, das Leben kurz, das Urteil schwierig, die Gelegenheit flüchtig. Handeln ist leicht, Denken schwer; nach dem Gedanken handeln unbequem. Aller Anfang ist heiter, die Schwelle ist der Platz der Erwartung.

Let me make a few observations.

1. "place to pause" and "place of expectation" mean quite different things, and "place of expectation" is a much more accurate translation.

2. This whole passage conveys the idea that starting something is easier than finishing it.

3. This is reminiscent of Polonius's speech in Hamlet, in that both are collections of \platitudes. Maybe it was not meant to be taken too seriously.

4. If you Google "aller Anfang ist", you get many, many hits for "aller Anfang ist schwer", meaning "every beginning is difficult." I presume that this adage was around when Goethe wrote this, and he is playing off it.

So far nobody has hit quite the right note on the quote. I would parse it this way:

Life is short, and nothing brings that home like reflecting on how little we have seen and done at the point when time is impatiently hurrying us off the stage. The tragedy is that we haven't really lived what we estimate to be full, long lives; for most, decline and death come way too soon.