Sometimes It's the Destination
“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” is a phrase often misattributed to the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. But is it ever just the destination?
Tell a patient waiting for a kidney transplant that 'it's the journey, not the destination,' and watch how it lands. The cozy saying — often pinned on Emerson, who never said it — sounds wise on a poster. But sometimes you really are just trying to get there.
Key concepts
- Intrinsic Versus Instrumental Value
- Intrinsic value is being good in itself; instrumental is being good only as a means. The cliché assumes journeys are intrinsically valuable — but a commute or hospital wait is purely instrumental.
- The Journey Cliché
- The line 'it's not the destination, it's the journey,' often misattributed to Emerson — its comfort depends on the journey being pleasant, which excludes everyone whose journey is just hardship.
- Survivorship Bias
- We hear the saying from people whose journeys turned out well; those crushed by the journey aren't around to put it on a mug — so the wisdom skews toward happy travelers.
- Toil Versus Adventure
- Not every journey is an enriching adventure; many are just toil — and calling drudgery a beautiful journey can romanticize or dismiss real suffering.
What to know
-
01
Sometimes it really is just the destination — a journey with only instrumental value (a commute, chemotherapy, a refugee's flight) is valued solely for its endpoint, so 'it's the journey' there denies how hard the road is.
Keep reading the full lesson
The rest of this lesson — every key insight, the cross-subject connection, the Are We There Yet? theme tie-in, and practice questions — comes with full access.
Unlock full access →$9.99/month, or $29.99 for the whole season — see plans.
New here? Create a free account to read the free section first.