[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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nice work, Garson. Interesting that the earliest ex. is probably the most
lucid.

And it isn't attributed to Lewis Carrol.

JL

On Wed, Mar 4, 2026 at 2:47 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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