[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke up the unused path

[Jeff Prucher]

 There are earlier translations of the Poetic Edda into English. A seemingly exhaustive list can be found at https://www.germanicmythology.com/elderedda/eddicpoems.html, although figuring out which have Hávamál (or the correct portion thereof, since there are a lot of partial translations) is beyond my remit.
This is the earliest I've found (in a not remotely exhaustive search).
Historic Survey of German Poetry, Interspersed with Various Translations. by W. Taylor, of Norwich. In Three Volumes.Vol. I1830
Hava-mal, the High Songp. 19If you've a friend, take care to keep him,And often to his threshold pace;Bushes and grass soon choke the pathOn which a man neglects to walk.https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historic_Survey_of_German_Poetry/pXdYT6p2msUC?q=&gbpv=1&bsq=youngling#f=false
Jeff Prucher
    On Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 07:33:15 PM PDT, ADSGarson O'Toole <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:  
 
 The saying in the subject line is often attributed to Ralph Waldo
Emerson. However, I found no substantive evidence that Ralph Waldo
Emerson crafted this saying. He died in 1882, and he received credit
by 1921.

The earliest match I found in English appeared in 1878 within an
article titled "The Ethic Ideas of the Edda" by Karl Blind which was
published in "The University Magazine" of London. Edda designates a
collection of Medieval Icelandic literary works. Blind printed the
following verse from a work called "Hávamál".

[Begin excerpt]
If thou hast a friend whom thou well canst trust:
Go often to him for friendly talk!
For brushwood grows, and very high grass,
On the path which nobody treads.
[End excerpt]

A different translation of the verse by Carolyne Larrington appeared
in the book "The Poetic Edda" from Oxford University Press in 2014

[Begin excerpt]
I advise you, Loddfafnir, to take this advice,
it will be useful if you learn it,
do you good, if you have it:
you know, if you've a friend, one whom you trust well,
go to see him often;
for brushwood grows, and tall grass,
on the road which no man treads.
[End excerpt]

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/07/16/friend-path/

Feedback and illuminating citations would be welcome.
Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

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