Life & Wisdom Quote by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“In business or in life, don’t follow the wagon tracks too closely” is advice disguised as folksy imagery, and that’s the trick: it smuggles a critique of conformity into a sentence that sounds like common sense. Wagon tracks signal safety. Someone else already tested the ground; you’re unlikely to hit a ditch. Brown’s line doesn’t deny that comfort. It warns about the hidden cost: when you let existing grooves dictate your route, you inherit other people’s assumptions, timelines, and risk tolerance.

The subtext is about path dependence, the way small early choices harden into “the way we do things,” even when the landscape changes. In business, those tracks look like industry best practices, MBA dogma, “what competitors are doing,” or the worship of incumbents. They’re useful until they become a substitute for judgment. In life, they’re the script: milestones, prestige ladders, socially approved versions of success. Brown nudges you to notice when you’re moving on autopilot, mistaking well-wornness for wisdom.

Context matters: Brown built a career on accessible, motivational aphorisms (think: short, quotable rules for living), often drawing on Americana as a credibility engine. The wagon is a deliberate choice: it evokes pioneers, but also the irony that pioneers quickly create ruts for everyone behind them. The intent isn’t reckless contrarianism; it’s selective independence. Don’t avoid tracks because they’re popular. Avoid them when they stop being a route and start being a cage.