The quote “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” is NOT by Ralph Waldo Emerson!
Folks, stop using or sharing this wrongly-attributed quote.
I know this misquote is found in many quotation websites and even published books.
As expected, you will also find this misquote in “Brainy Quotes“.
You can find more of them from .
Ralph Waldo Emerson Did Not Go Where The Path That Leads To Misquote
As to date, no one has tracked down this quotation in any of Emerson’s works.
Furthermore, nobody knows the origin of this line.
Stop the trail of this misquote.
So far, I know there is this similar line which reads:
“I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.”
It is found in the very first line of the poem, titled “”.
It was written by American poet and writer Muriel Strode.
She is the female poet who wrote the ‘naughty’ “Creation Songs“.
You can find this quotation in a monthly magazine called “The Open Court” way back in 1903.
()
If you still want to use the line “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”, then just attributed it to “Anonymous” or “Unknown“.
By the way, there are many quotations which are wrongly attributed to this American essayist, lecturer, and poet.
For instance:
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
“As soon as there is life there is danger.”
And the popular verse ” “ which was actually written by Bessie Anderson Stanley.
Here are two quotations which are wrongly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: