But as long as we wander around randomly, following no guide except the shouting of people who pull us in different directions, we'll waste our short lives on pointless wandering. This is true even if we work day and night trying to understand what makes us happy. So let's not decide where to go or which path to take without getting advice from someone experienced — someone who has already explored the territory we're about to enter. This journey isn't like other trips. On regular journeys, you can find clear roads and ask locals for directions. You won't get lost. But when it comes to happiness, the most popular and crowded paths are exactly the ones that lead you furthest astray.
But as long as we wander at random, not following any guide except the shouts and discordant clamours of those who invite us to proceed in different directions, our short life will be wasted in useless roamings, even if we labour both day and night to get a good understanding. Let us not therefore decide whither we must tend, and by what path, without the advice of some experienced person who has explored the region which we are about to enter, because this journey is not subject to the same conditions as others; for in them some distinctly understood track and inquiries made of the natives make it impossible for us to go wrong, but here the most beaten and frequented tracks are those which lead us most astray.