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案ずるより産むが易し

It is better to get down to work than (just) to worry about it (beforehand). ｜ Fear can magnify a danger. ｜ A danger is not as great as it seems in advance. ｜ We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

I am a bad with classical Japanese so please need some help understanding the grammar here.

All I can see is 易し　is old 終止形 of 易しい, and the 案ずるより perhaps a contrastive adverbial clause ("rather than worry...") if modern rules apply but what is the 産むが part - how does that translate to "fear"? (a somewhat detailed grammar breakdown would be appreciated!)

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    I think you've just misunderstood the English. You have it right, all it says is "It's better to begin than to worry." The other phrases are merely suggestions about how to say it in English.
    – Avery
    Commented Jun 4, 2015 at 12:46

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  • 案ずるより: rather than worrying
    • 案ずる: to worry (archaic version of 案じる)
    • ～より: than ～
  • 産むが: bearing (a baby) (is)
    • 産む: to bear (a baby)
    • が: (subject marker)
  • 易し: easy (archaic version of 易しい)

Since this is a proverb, 産む here is used to figuratively mean "to actually do something".

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