James Geary | October 2008 issue
Roads are our oldest artifacts. We create them instinctively, inadvertently, simply by going to and fro upon the Earth and walking up and down on it. With every step, wherever we turn, we either find a road or make one. Roads don’t go anywhere, though. Once established, they remain fixed, stationary. We travel to Rome by the same routes as the ancient Romans, albeit by other transport modes. We can take high roads or low roads; those trampled flat from traffic or those tangled and overgrown. We can stick to the straight and narrow or go off the beaten track. Whichever way we choose, the only options are forward or back. “If you are not sure where you are going, it is possible you are on the right road,” writes English artist Les Coleman. And if a map doesn’t show the place you want to go, you need a new road.
James Geary is the author of The World in a Phrase and Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists. jamesgeary.com
“If you are not sure where you are going, it is possible you are on the right road”
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