Paths are Made by Walking#
Horseman on a Forest Path by Adrianus van Everdingen, 1856#
Alleged Quotes#
paths are made by walking
This aphorism is also found in German as follows:
Wege entstehen dadurch, dass wir sie gehen
Context#
Both aforementioned aphorisms are commonly attributed to Franz Kafka, and less commonly to Friedrich Nietzsche, but there is little support for the claim that any of these two authors ever uttered or wrote such a statement[1]. The closest we have in spirit as per the literature is a quote by the Spanish poet Antonio Machado[2]. Wikipedia’s summary of Antonio Machado’s style, which I personally support, is as follows:
His work, initially modernist, evolved towards an intimate form of symbolism with romantic traits. He gradually developed a style characterised by both an engagement with humanity on one side and an almost Taoist contemplation of existence on the other, a synthesis that according to Machado echoed the most ancient popular wisdom. In Gerardo Diego’s words, Machado “spoke in verse and lived in poetry.”
Actual Quote#
Both of the alleged quotes are equivalent in meaning, but not phrasing, to the following verse of Machado’s poem XXIX:
caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar
Poem XXIX by Antonio Machado#
Spanish#
1
2
3 XXIX
4
5
6
7 Caminante, son tus huellas
8 el camino, y nada más;
9
10 caminante, no hay camino,
11 se hace camino al andar.
12
13 Al andar se hace camino,
14 y al volver la vista atrás
15 se ve la senda que
16 nunca se ha de volver a pisar.
17
18 Caminante, no hay camino,
19 sino estelas en la mar.
20
21
22
23
24 Campos de Castilla, 1917
25 Antonio Machado
26
27
28
English [3]#
1
2
3
4 XXIX
5
6
7 Traveler, your footprints
8 are the only road, nothing else.
9 Traveler, there is no road;
10 you make your own path as you walk.
11 As you walk, you make your own road,
12 and when you look back
13 you see the path
14 you will never travel again.
15 Traveler, there is no road;
16 only a ship's wake on the sea.
17
18
19 Campos de Castilla, 1917
20 Antonio Machado
21
22 Translation by Mary G. Berg and Dennis Maloney, 2003
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24