The road less traveled makes all the difference
Meaning: Unconventional choices often lead to the most meaningful outcomes.
Origin: A paraphrase of the end of Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" (1916): "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference." Frost wrote it partly as a gentle joke about his friend the poet Edward Thomas, who on country walks always regretted the path they hadn't taken. The poem is more ambiguous than the proverb: its speaker admits both paths were really about the same.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and Japanese
- French: Les chemins les moins fréquentés mènent souvent le plus loin (literally: The least traveled paths often lead furthest)
- Spanish: El camino menos transitado hace toda la diferencia (literally: The less traveled road makes all the difference)
- Japanese: 人の行く裏に道あり花の山 (Hito no yuku ura ni michi ari hana no yama) (literally: Behind where people go, there is a mountain of flowers)
More proverbs about Challenge
- He who hesitates is lost — Indecision leads to missed opportunities.
- A gem cannot be polished without friction — Excellence and greatness are only achieved through struggle and hardship.
- The darkest hour is just before the dawn — Situations often worsen right before they improve dramatically.
- It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness — Taking constructive action is more effective than complaining about a problem.
- When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion — Collective effort by many can overcome even the most powerful opposition.
- It is not the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog — Determination and spirit matter far more than physical size or advantage.
From our compliments & insults
- És uma joia — You're a gem — a precious, lovely person.
- Sei un salame — You're a clumsy, dopey softie — said with a smile.
- Eres más corto que las mangas de un chaleco — You're not the sharpest — a bit slow on the uptake.