Quote of the Day: Hernando Cortez on Love

We often believe the goal is the point, that once we “get there,” life finally starts. But the strange, hopeful truth is that most of what makes us feel alive happens before the finish line. “I love to travel, but hate to arrive,” wrote Hernando Cortez, capturing the quiet magic of forward motion.

Travel is a stand-in for any meaningful pursuit: building a career, rebuilding trust, learning a skill, healing from a setback. The work that changes us rarely feels like a clean, completed arrival; it feels like movement, uncertain, imperfect, and oddly energizing. When you love the traveling part, you stop demanding that life prove itself only at milestones. You start measuring your days by effort, learning, and attention.

Arriving can be a trap because it suggests finality: “I’m done,” “I’m safe,” “I’m finished becoming.” But growth is more like a road than a room. The antidote is simple: treat outcomes as checkpoints, not identities. Ask, “What is the next honest step?” not “How do I lock this in forever?” That mindset builds resilience and keeps your curiosity intact.

As a Spanish conquistador whose expeditions helped topple the Aztec Empire and reshape early New World history, Hernando Cortez knew what it meant to navigate uncertainty, negotiate with the unknown, and keep moving when maps ran out.

Today, pick one goal you’ve been postponing until conditions are perfect, and take a “travel step” instead: draft the first paragraph, take the ten-minute walk, send the awkward email, practice the first rep. Let the destination stay distant, commit to the next mile with courage, and may your path teach you what arrival never can.