Trying to remember a quote about paths and life, in another language
November 28, 2018 3:55 PM   Subscribe

I remember seeing a quote on Twitter or somewhere; the original phrase/quote was in Spanish or Italian or something of that region, and in the original language it was a special phrase in some way-- it was a palindrome, or a rhyme, or used every letter, or in some way was a clever word-play.

I don't remember the translation of the quote, but it was something along the lines of "As you take the steps on the journey, the path creates itself" or in some way encouraging of taking a path or a journey.

Things it was NOT:
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"
"Life is a journey"
"May the road rise to meet you"

Sorry I'm not more specific. I think it was quoted at one point by Robert MacFarlane, but he writes a LOT about paths etc so Google is failing me-- and I'm 100% sure it was originally in a language other than English.
posted by Pastor of Muppets to Writing & Language (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Is it something like "Caminante, no hay Camino" from the Antonio Machado poem by that name?
posted by CheeseLouise at 4:45 PM on November 28, 2018


Response by poster: CheeseLouise, I thought maybe--? but I think the one I saw was shorter, more pithy, just like two sentences or so...
posted by Pastor of Muppets at 6:02 PM on November 28, 2018


Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.


My thought was the same as CheeseLouise. I didn't even know it was a longer poem!
posted by bluedaisy at 6:12 PM on November 28, 2018


Roughly...

Traveler, there is no road,
you make the path as you walk it.


Except it sounds better in Spanish, because the words for "traveler," "road," and "path" are all from the same route.
posted by bluedaisy at 6:14 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


The beginning of Dante's Inferno, in Italian:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.

http://www.ebooksbrasil.org/adobeebook/ladivinacommedia.pdf

IN the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray
Gone from the path direct

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8789/8789-h/8789-h.htm#link1
posted by sagwalla at 5:31 AM on November 29, 2018


Response by poster: I found it!

“la ruta nos oporto otro paso natural” — the path gave to us the natural next step

But I like all these responses and will keep them as well. Thank you!
posted by Pastor of Muppets at 9:37 AM on November 29, 2018 [2 favorites]


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