Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Quote Investigator traces a close first-person form to Strode in The Open Court (August 1903), p. 505. It finds an unattributed imperative in a 1983 yearbook and an Emerson credit in Middle School Journal in January 1992. The adapter and the first use of the exact modern form are not established. The held English Essays: First Series was searched for “where the path may lead,” “no path” and “leave a trail,” without finding this saying. This is a limited corpus search, not a search of all Emerson. The historical printings in the trail are known here through Quote Investigator, not independently inspected originals.

1. August 1903Earliest found · credited to Muriel StrodeThe earliest close wording identified by Quote Investigator is Strode’s first-person declaration.I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.Muriel Strode, “Wind-Wafted Wild Flowers,” The Open Court, vol. 17, no. 8 (August 1903), Miscellaneous, 505. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
2. 1983Reworded · credited to no oneA medical-school yearbook prints an imperative version without naming an author.Aequanimitas, University of Michigan Medical School yearbook (1983), page for Barbara N. Wynn, M.D, unnumbered; Google Books page 171 according to Quote Investigator. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
3. January 1992Credited to Ralph Waldo EmersonThe earliest Emerson credit located by Quote Investigator appears in a picture caption.Middle School Journal, vol. 23, no. 3 (January 1992), theme issue “Middle School Curriculum,” picture caption, 42. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source

The imperative circulates as advice from Emerson to choose an original course. A closely matching first-person declaration was published under Muriel Strode’s name in 1903, after Emerson’s death. Later printings turn that declaration into advice to a reader.

Choose an independent course rather than merely following an established route.

• The form on posters and social mediaDo not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Another circulating imperative reproduced by Quote Investigator. The article also records occasional credits to Robert Frost, without dating their first appearance. The atlas already has the same saying under Emerson as misattributed, from an unidentified adapter of Muriel Strode; this is not a new Frost quote. Where it was seen

Freedom, Change, Courage, Wisdom

• Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.
• To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. (misattributed)
• Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind. (misattributed) Bernard Baruch
• Why fit in when you were born to stand out? (not found) Dr. Seuss
• It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. (misattributed) Mark Twain

• quoteinvestigator.com/2014/06/19/new-path
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. No. The Emerson attribution is unsupported. The saying adapts a line published by Muriel Strode in 1903; the person who made the modern imperative is unidentified. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/do-not-go-where-the-path-may-lead/ (checked 22 October 2026).

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