courage to choose: the road less traveled

Reading Hillary Clinton's autobiography at night, it hit me like a thunderbolt. OMG, What a courageous lady! That phrase: the road less traveled, hit me as well. I thought I knew the meaning, making smart choice, taking short cut. I realized, however, through the context, it means the opposite. I's puzzled last night. Now, I'm checking it out. Yes, I didn't get it right before, but now I do. How about you?

You can't assume you know English as it's so much sophisticated that British yelled at us Americans - "you ruin the beauty of English."

My problem? I didn't see the beauty - How can I ruin it? Do you know what's the beauty of English?

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What does "the road less traveled" mean?*

It means be creative and follow your own path.

Don't go the same way everyone else is going, because you will only end up in the same place they are and will have to overcome all the same obstacles.

Be a leader, not a follower.

I would say the one that is the right path in life. It's all about choices, the right ones and you go farther

the way less taken - the direction less followed
The way , we evitate , don't have the courage to choose.

Best Answer: it means to do the less obvious. To be different from the rest. To follow a path that is perhaps not as easy because not many other people have done it.
For example someone from a family of police officers, might choose to become a doctor, and the family may have reservations, and say, we have always had police officers in the family. it might be more difficult for that person, but they are taking an alternative route to do something other than the normal

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Yes, those are good answers. You also might want to know that it's from a poem by Robert Frost. It also later became a book title by M. Scott Peck. Both worth reading.

Everyone thinks the poem means to break away from the crowd and do your own thing, but if you read it, Frost is very clear that the two roads are exactly the same. He just chooses one at random. And then it’s only later at a dinner party when he’s talking about it that he tells everyone he chose the road less traveled by, but he’s lying. So the point of the poem is that everyone wants to look back and think that their choices matter. But in reality, **** just happens the way that it happens, and it doesn’t matter

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Its the way of saying take risk to travel on the route which is not taken by people frequently. Normally one choses path on which many people have travelled before as it assures safe journey to reach the destination. This path would be smooth & the commuter may not face much problem coz someone has already taken corrective action earlier. whereas on road less travelled there would be risk of interruption, hardships, problems which the traveller has to solve on its own without much help. Road less travelled may also have great incentives which the traveller may enjoy on basis of the risk taken.

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Metaphorically speaking, someone who takes 'the road less traveled' is acting independently, freeing themselves from the conformity of others (who choose to take 'the road more often traveled'), generally making their own choices, and perhaps leaving a new trail that will become the road more often traveled  (until, of course, someone takes the road less traveled from there, and happens upon something even better than the first improvement; in that way, the cycle always repeats itself, and Wikipedia is continually made better).

The phrase itself is a famous few lines extracted from "The Road Not Taken" by poet Robert Frost:

 

“

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — . . . I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

”

This idea of taking the road less traveled, or doing things a separate way from the way they are usually done, while applicable to many aspects of life, is in particular applicable to Wikipedia. If one, as an editor, or even as a reader, happens across a way to do something, anything, more easily or in a better fashion that it is commonly or is always done, then one should probably take the road less traveled and give it a shot. If this is done, the person in question might leave a trail that will become the road more often traveled, and has bettered Wikipedia just by doing that.

The road more often traveled[edit]

Despite the obvious advantages of taking the road less traveled, there are certain times when taking this path is not always the best choice, and it might be better just to stick with the road more often traveled. Taking another road just to circumvent the road more often traveled, the road that policy is built on, is not constructive. Making the choice of which road to take can sometimes be hard, and is very dependent on the situation.

One must assess the possible advantages, disadvantages and risks of taking either road, just as any real-life explorer or traveler would.

Another school of thought suggests that the "road less traveled" is the harder, less attractive road. Most people will take the easier road. Most people search for the easier paths through life; however, the easier paths are often the less eventful. Overcoming adversity generally advances us the most in our awareness and understanding of the world. It is very rare that a person would ever say they were willing to "undo" an experience, regardless of how difficult it was. The road less traveled brings us more experience, and more experience enables us to live more. The road less traveled can make all the difference. We ought not aspire to be as enlightened as a flea.