All roads lead to Rome: Daily Vocabulary

(TESOL Worksheets--Daily Vocabulary)

Youtube Video--Google: docs, pub



All roads lead to Rome
Youtube: https://youtu.be/xQWMYByxXtk

Today's vocabulary is a proverb. A proverb is a wise saying which gives you advice about how to live your life. Today's proverb is: All roads lead to Rome. Now this is an older proverb. It comes from the days when Rome was the most important city in Europe. In fact, I've been told that this proverb exists in many European languages, although I don't know that for myself. So if you speak another European language, please let me know if you have this same proverb in your language.
So in the days when Rome was the most important city in Europe, all of the main roads would go to Rome. So if you were on one main road, you could get to Rome, but if you were on another main road, you could get to Rome just as easily.
You can still hear this proverb used nowadays in the context of roads and directions. For example, if you're going to any big city, New York or Los Angeles or Chicago or any big city, you will often find that all of the main roads around that city lead into the city. So it doesn't really matter which road you're on, they will all go into the city. So you might hear a conversation like this:
“You're going the wrong way. That's not the road to Chicago.”
“Relax, this road also goes to Chicago. Remember, all roads lead to Rome.”
However the proverb also has a more metaphorical meaning, and this more metaphorical meaning is the way it's more commonly used. The metaphorical meaning is there are many different ways to do something. So you can do a task using one way, or you can do a task using the other way and as long as the result is the same, it doesn't matter. So, for example you might hear this conversation:
“No, you're doing the project all wrong! We have to do it like this.”
“Relax. This way is perfectly fine. As long as the project is finished in the end, nobody cares how you do it. Remember: All roads lead to Rome.”
So let me know whether you agree or disagree with this proverb and also let me know if you have any other similar proverbs in your own language.