[Ads-l] Proverb Origin: If You're Not Sure Where You=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99re_?=Going, You're Liable to End Up Someplace Else

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

JL posted about a passage by Lewis Carroll in which Alice spoke to the
Cheshire Cat. A later proverb has been associated with the passage:

If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

This inspired me to post a QI article about a humorously twisted
version of this proverb. Here is a link to the article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/03/04/know-going/

Instances from this family have been credited to baseball player Yogi
Berra, Canadian educator Laurence J. Peter, psychologist Robert F.
Mager, and advice columnist Abigail Van Buren.

Here is an overview with dates showing the variety of expressions and
attributions in this family:

1907 Nov 25: If you don't know where you are going you will never
arrive (Attributed to Anonymous)

1962: If you're not sure where you’re going, you're liable to end up
someplace else--and not even know it (Robert F. Mager)

1969: If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up
somewhere else. (Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull)

1969 Jun 06: If you don't know where you're going, you're going to
wind up someplace else (Attributed to Yogi Berra)

1969 Jul 22: If you don't know where you're going, you're gonna wind
up somewhere else (Attributed to Yogi Berra)

1969 Aug 09: People who don't know where they're going usually wind up
somewhere else (Abigail Van Buren)

1972 Jan 31: If you don't know where you're going, you might wind up
some place else (Attributed to Yogi Berra)

1979 Nov: If you don't know where you're going, you won't know when
you get there (Attributed to Yogi Berra)

1980 Nov 14: If you don't know where you're going, how will you know
when you get there? (Attributed to Yogi Berra)

1982 Aug 17: You've got to be very careful if you don't know where
you're going, because you might not get there (Attributed to Yogi
Berra)

1983 Dec 29: You've got to be careful because if you don't know where
you're going, you might never get there (Attributed to Yogi Berra)

1998: You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going
'cause you might not get there! (Yogi Berra)

 "The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" contains a pertinent entry which
lists the saying in the 1969 book by Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond
Hull. Also, "The New Yale Book of Quotations" contains an entry for
the saying in "The Yogi Book".

Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org