“If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.”

  • It is considered an African proverb.

  • Whether it is really an African proverb was debated [src: NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/07/30/487925796/it-takes-a-village-to-determine- the-origins-of-an-african-proverb]

    • Conclusion: well-known African phrase, but not tied to a specific speaker
    • Cory Booker’s 2016 statement made famous
    • Already mentioned in Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book It Takes a Village
    • nishio.iconThe Japanese equivalent would be “the nail that sticks out gets hammered in,” an oft-used but unauthored phrase.
  • African (Luo) proverb - Young people can run faster if they are alone. Older people are slower, but can go farther. - Meaning that old people can’t run as fast as young people, but they have the knowledge to help them go farther. - Taking a young man with no knowledge and slow legs is not beneficial to “go far”. - The phrase, “If you want to go far, you must all go together,” leaves that ambiguous.

It could be interpreted that if you’re looking for short-term efficiency, you should do it alone.

Note that “If you want to go far, go together” when interpreted literally does not say “If you go together, you will go far.”

Nor did I say that “everyone” would get far if we all went together.

relevance - diversity - teamwork

orthographical variants


This page is auto-translated from /nishio/速く行きたければ一人で進め、遠くまで行きたければ皆で進め using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.