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Who really said it

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end

Not Ernest Hemingway — actually Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula K. Le Guin 1929–2018 · American author of science fiction & fantasy
Disputed In copyright

This is a real, verified line — but it is not Hemingway’s. It comes from Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, Chapter 15, spoken during the crossing of the Gobrin Ice. The Ernest Hemingway credit only appears from around 2010 — nearly half a century after Hemingway’s death.

Last verified 14 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end” Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), ch. 15 — often misattributed to Ernest Hemingway.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Ernest Hemingway. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by The estate of Ursula K. Le Guin / Ace Books (Penguin Random House)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Ursula K. Le Guin — American novelist of science fiction & fantasy. Theme: "It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The real source

Work
The Left Hand of Darkness
Author
Ursula K. Le Guin
Location
Chapter 15
First published
1969 (Ace Books)

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.

The narrator reflects on the long, punishing trek across the Gobrin Glacier — the line is a meditation on the value of the journey itself, not a stand-alone aphorism. Note the original wording is “towards”; later reprints and quote sites often shorten it to “toward.”

Quote Investigator: full origin trace

How we verified this

  • 1969 — the origin. Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (Chapter 15) contains the line as originally published, per Quote Investigator.
  • 1977 onward — correctly credited. The line was attributed to Le Guin in The Quotable Woman: 1800–1975 (1977) and later reference works, as documented by Quote Investigator.
  • c. 2010 — the Hemingway error. The earliest located Hemingway credit is a 2010 obituary — roughly 50 years after Hemingway’s 1961 death, per Quote Investigator.
  • Text-verified. The quotation database WIST records the line to The Left Hand of Darkness, Chapter 15 (1969).
In copyright

The Left Hand of Darkness was first published in 1969 and remains under U.S. copyright; Le Guin died in 2018 and her work is controlled by her estate and publisher. This is a genuine literary quotation, not public-domain wisdom.

Fact-check

How Hemingway got the credit

This is a genuine quotation — the misattribution is about who wrote it, not whether it’s real. The line is Le Guin’s; Hemingway is a later, spurious credit.

Ernest Hemingway misattributed

Hemingway is by far the most common name attached to this line online, yet he died in 1961 and the earliest located Hemingway credit is a 2010 obituary — a gap of nearly 50 years. There is no evidence he ever said or wrote it, per Quote Investigator.

“toward” vs “towards” mis-worded

Le Guin’s original reads “an end to journey towards”; many reprints and quote sites shorten it to “toward,” a change traced at least to a 1990 anthology by Quote Investigator.

The words are really Ursula K. Le Guin’s, written in The Left Hand of Darkness (1969, Ch. 15) — not Ernest Hemingway’s, per Quote Investigator.

Context

Why it resonates

Within the novel the line lands at the end of a brutal months-long trek across a glacier — a physical journey that has become the emotional heart of the story. Pulled out of the book and pinned on Hemingway, it reads like generic inspirational wisdom; in context it is the hard-won reflection of a character who has nearly died getting somewhere.

Its journey-over-destination theme is ancient, and Quote Investigator notes an echo in a 1920 line by theologian Lynn H. Hough — but the specific, memorable wording is Le Guin’s own.

It is the journey that matters, in the end.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Purpose Wisdom

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: It Is Good To Have an End To Journey Towardsquoteinvestigator.com

The definitive origin trace: Le Guin in 1969, Hemingway credit only c. 2010.
Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, ch. 15 (1969)wist.info

Sourced quotation record tying the line to Chapter 15 of the 1969 novel.
The Left Hand of Darkness — quotationsgoodreads.com

Reader-compiled quotations from the novel, showing the line in circulation.
Ursula K. Le Guinen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the true author (1929–2018).
The Left Hand of Darknessen.wikipedia.org

Background on the 1969 Hugo- and Nebula-winning novel that is the source.

The real author

About Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin

1929–2018 · American novelist of science fiction & fantasy

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was one of the most acclaimed American authors of speculative fiction, best known for the Earthsea series and the Hainish Cycle. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), the source of this line, won both the Hugo and Nebula awards and is a landmark exploration of gender and journeying. Her prose is threaded with quietly aphoristic lines like this one, which is exactly why it travels so easily — often stripped of her name.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (New York: Ace Books, 1969), ch. 15.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end’?” Last verified 14 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/it-is-good-to-have-an-end-to-journey-towards-but-it-is-the

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