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]
all roads lead to Rome
( 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
different paths can take to the same goal
Arabic: كُلُّ الطُّرُقِ تُؤَدِّي إِلَى رُومَا ( kullu ṭ-ṭuruqi tuʔaddī ʔilā 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 ( śbo rasta rōmer dike jaẏ )
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 (es) , 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
^ Schaaf, P. (1867/1886 ) Ante-nicene fathers: The Apostolic fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus , electronic reprint edition, volume 1, Grand Rapids, MI, USA: CCEL: Roberts, A. & Donaldson, J, Eds., page 1
^ Samuel Singer, Kuratorium Singer (1995 ) Walter de Gruyter, editor, Thesaurus Proverbiorum Medii Aevi: Lexikon der Sprichwörter des Romanisch-germanischen Mittelalters [1] , →ISBN , page 355
^ “A Treatise on the Astrolabe , Part 1”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name) [2] , 2008 November 2 (last accessed), archived from the original on 13 August 2009
^ Gregory Y. Titelman (1996 ) Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings , →ISBN , page 8
^ Linda Flavell, Roger Flavell (1993 ) Dictionary of Proverbs and their Origins
^ “User Groups : Who Said It? : all roads lead to Rome”, in Quoteland.com [3] , 2008 November 2 (last accessed), archived from the original on 14 May 2009