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To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

What's the meaning of the phrase 'To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive'?

Hope and anticipation are often better than reality.

What's the origin of the phrase 'To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive'?

This phrase is a Robert Louis Stevenson quotation, from Virginibus Puerisque, 1881:

“Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.”

Stevenson was expressing the same idea as the earlier Taoist saying – “The journey is the reward.”

See also: the List of Proverbs.

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Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

Gary Martin

Writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.
To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

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