“You enter the forest
at the darkest point,
where there is no path.

Where there is a way or path,
it is someone else's path.

You are not on your own path.

If you follow someone else's way,
you are not going to realize
your potential.”

“So long as men praise you, you can only be sure that you are not yet on your own true path but on someone else's.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

“If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's.”

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer

“Never follow anyone else's path, unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path. Then by all means follow that path.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.”

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer

“Note that this journey is uniquely yours, no one else's. So the path has to be your own. You cannot imitate somebody else's journey and still be true to yourself. Are you prepared to honor your uniqueness in this way?”

Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944) American academic

“In order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

“*Only if you reject all the other paths can you discover your own path.”

U.G. Krishnamurti (1918–2007) Indian philosopher

“It's funny about paths and rivers," he mused. "You see them go by, and suddenly you feel upset and want to be somewhere else--wherever the path or the river is going, perhaps.”

Tove Jansson book Comet in Moominland