"If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably…

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere” is an inspirational saying that has been printed on many images. “If you find a path with no obstacles—it probably doesn’t lead anywhere” was printed in “The Country Parson,” a one-panel comic strip by Frank A. Clark (1911-1991), in many newspapers on April 16, 1970.

Wikipedia: The Country Parson
Country Parson, a series of one-panel syndicated newspaper cartoons, always featuring a short aphorism or observation (modeled in part on the original anonymous Country Parsons’ writings), created and written by Frank A. Clark (1911–1991) of Iowa, illustrated by Wally Clark and later Dennis Neal, running from the late 1950s through the 1970s.

16 April 1970, St. Petersburg (FL) Times, “The Country Parson” (one-panel comic strip), pg. 15-A, col. 1:
“If you find a path with no obstacles—it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”
Copyright 1970, by Frank A. Clark

16 April 1970, Scranton (PA) Times, “The Country Parson” (one-panel comic strip), pg. 6, col. 7:
“If you find a path with no obstacles—it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”

Google Books
Forbes
Volume 109
1972
Pg. 66:
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere. —FRANK A. CLARK

14 October 1972, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), pg. 11-C, col. 7 ad:
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
(Harry Jacobson, clothing.—ed.)

Google Books
Changing Perspectives in the Scientific Study of Religion
By Allan W. Eister
New York, NY: Wiley
1974
Pg. 319:
On a large chalkboard were the words: “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

7 November 1976, Sunday Chronicle-Herald (Augusta, GA), “John Barnes’ Our Town,” pg. 3D, col. 5:
QUOTE: “If can you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”—Frank A. Clark.

7 July 1988, The Jewish Advocate (Boston, MA), “Silver Linings” by Herb Abramson, pg. 7, col. 1:
If you find a path with no obstacles on it, chances are it doesn’t lead anywhere.

Google Books
Motivational Quotes:
Inspirational and Motivational Quotes
By Mac Anderson
Naperville, IL: Simple Truths
2008
Pg. 72:
If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
Frank A. Clark

Twitter
Christie M. Stenzel
@CStenzelWriter
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere. - Frank A Clark #quote
2:59 AM - 21 May 2019