all roads lead to Rome

all roads lead to Rome

English

Etymology

Modern wording of medieval sentiment; apparently originally a reference to Roman roads generally and the Milliarium Aureum (Golden Milestone) specifically.[1]

Appears in the Latin form mīlle viae dūcunt hominēs per saecula Rōmam (“a thousand roads lead men forever to Rome”) in Liber Parabolarum, 591 (1175), by Alain de Lille.[2]

The earliest English form appears to be “right as diverse pathes leden the folk the righte wey to Rome”, in A Treatise on the Astrolabe (Prologue, ll. 39–40), 1391, by Geoffrey Chaucer.[3][4][5][6]

Proverb

all roads lead to Rome

1. (idiomatic) Different paths can take one to the same goal.

   Synonyms: all roads lead to Mecca, there's more than one way to skin a cat, (Australia) all roads lead to Sydney

Translations

different paths can take to the same goal

Arabic: كُلُّ الطُّرُقِ تُؤَدِّي إِلَى رُومَا‎ (kullu ṭ-ṭuruqi tuʾaddī ʾilā romā) Armenian: բոլոր ճանապարհները տանում են Հռոմ (bolor čanaparhnerə tanum en Hṙom) Azerbaijani: bütün yollar Romaya aparır Belarusian: усе́ даро́гі вяду́ць у Рым (usjé daróhi vjadúcʹ u Rym) Bengali: সব রাস্তা রোমের দিকে যায় (sôbô rasta romer dike ĵay) Burmese: လမ်းတိုင်းဟာ ရောမမြို့ဆီကို ဦးတည်နေကြတယ် (lam:tuing:ha rau:ma.mrui.hcikui u:tanyne-kra.tai) Catalan: tots els camins duen a Roma, tots els camins porten a Roma Chinese: Mandarin: 條條大路通羅馬／条条大路通罗马 (zh) (tiáotiáo dàlù tōng Luómǎ), 殊途同歸／殊途同归 (zh) (shūtútóngguī) Czech: všechny cesty vedou do Říma (cs) Danish: alle veje fører til Rom (da) Dutch: alle wegen leiden naar Rome Esperanto: ĉiuj vojoj kondukas al Romo Estonian: kõik teed viivad Rooma Finnish: kaikki tiet vievät Roomaan French: tous les chemins mènent à Rome (fr) Georgian: ყველა გზა რომში მიდის (q̇vela gza romši midis) German: alle Wege führen nach Rom (de) Greek: όλοι οι δρόμοι οδηγούν στη Ρώμη (el) (óloi oi drómoi odigoún sti Rómi) Hebrew: כֹּל הַדְּרָכִים מוֹבִילוֹת לְרוֹמָא‎ (kól had'rakhím movilót l'Róma) Hungarian: minden út Rómába vezet (hu) Icelandic: allir vegir liggja til Rómar (is) Indonesian: banyak jalan menuju Roma Interlingua: omne via duce a Roma, tote le vias porta a Roma Italian: tutte le strade portano a Roma Japanese: 全ての道はローマに通ず (ja) (すべてのみちはローマにつうず, subete no michi wa Rōma ni tsūzu) Kannada: ಎಲ್ಲದರ ಪರಿಣಾಮವೂ ಒಂದೇ (kn) (elladara pariṇāmavū ondē), ಎಲ್ಲ ದಾರಿಗೂ ಗುರಿ ಒಂದೇ (kn) (ella dārigū guri ondē) Korean: 역지즉개연(易地則皆然) (yeokjijeukgaeyeon), (calque) 모든 길은 로마로 통한다 (modeun gireun Romaro tonghanda) Kyrgyz: бардык жолдор Римге алып барат (bardık joldor Rimge alıp barat) Latin: omnēs viae Rōmam dūcunt, omnibus viīs Rōmam pervenītur Latvian: visi ceļi ved uz Romu Lithuanian: visi keliai veda į Romą Luxembourgish: all Weeër féieren op Roum Malay: Jawi: اد باڽق جالن منوجو کمکه‎, اد باڽق ڤيليهن باݢي منچاڤاي متلامت سام‎ Rumi: ada banyak jalan menuju ke Mekah, ada banyak pilihan bagi mencapai matlamat sama Norwegian: alle veier fører til Rom (no) Persian: همه‌یِ راه‌ها به رُم میفرجامند‎ (hame-ye râh-hâ be Rom mi-farjâmand) Polish: wszystkie drogi prowadzą do Rzymu (pl) Portuguese: todos os caminhos levam a Roma Romanian: toate drumurile duc la Roma Romansch: tut las vias mainan a Roma Russian: все доро́ги веду́т в Рим (ru) (vse dorógi vedút v Rim) Sanskrit: सर्वाः पन्थाः रोमायाम् प्र नयन्ति (sárvāḥ pánthāḥ romāyām prá náyanti) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сви путеви воде у Ри̑м Roman: svi putevi vode u Rȋm Slovak: všetky cesty vedú do Ríma Slovene: vse poti vodijo v Rim Spanish: todos los caminos llevan a Roma, todos los caminos conducen a Roma Swedish: alla vägar bär till Rom (sv) Tagalog: lahat ng daan ay magdadala sa'yo sa Roma Turkish: tüm yollar Roma'ya çıkar Ukrainian: всі доро́ги веду́ть до Риму (vsi doróhy vedútʹ do Rymu) Vietnamese: mọi con đường đều dẫn tới thành Rô-ma Welsh: y mae bob ffordd yn arwain i Rufain Yoruba: ọ̀nà kan ò wọjà

See also

• Rome wasn't built in a day

References

1. Schaaf, P. (1867/1886) Ante-nicene fathers: The Apostolic fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, volume 1, electronic reprint edition, Grand Rapids, MI, USA: CCEL: Roberts, A. & Donaldson, J, Eds., page 1
2. Samuel Singer; Kuratorium Singer (1995), Walter de Gruyter, editor, Thesaurus Proverbiorum Medii Aevi: Lexikon der Sprichwörter des Romanisch-germanischen Mittelalters‎, →ISBN, page 355
3. “A Treatise on the Astrolabe, Part 1”, in (please provide the title of the work)‎, accessed 2 November 2008, archived from the original on 2009-08-13
4. Gregory Y. Titelman (1996) Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, →ISBN, page 8
5. Linda Flavell; Roger Flavell (1993) Dictionary of Proverbs and their Origins
6. “User Groups : Who Said It? : all roads lead to Rome”, in Quoteland.com‎, accessed 2 November 2008, archived from the original on 2009-05-14