I kind of like the agrarian proverbs – ones that tell you when to make hay, or what to think when it’s a red sky in the morning. Those are… kind of easy, you know no one will ever figure out who wrote them, so provenance isn’t at issue, and you can make them mean whatever you want, since you’re not a farmer. This proverb is a bit more direct – though the provenance is equally murky.
Myriad names have been tied to this proverb, though surprisingly, the first printing in English is in an English Bible translations in Ecclesiastes, which states, “The way of sinners is made plain with stones, but at the end thereof is the pit of hell.” (Although why I’m surprised at the Bible in a proverb about hell, I don’t know…) Being “made plain with stones” is an accurate description of trail-marking, or cobblestones. A reference in 1791 leaves out the road altogether, until A Hand-book of Proverbs, published it in 1855, puts it all together with:
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
non verbis
listen —
outcomes matter.
living’s cause-and-effect
outweighs all your best intentions.
deeds count.