Thoreau argues that a person should shape life according to their own considered direction rather than simply following paths established by others. By describing other paths as the “path of fate”, he suggests that adopting someone else’s course can mean surrendering a degree of personal choice and allowing circumstances or convention to determine one’s life.

In Walden, this idea reflects Thoreau’s wider emphasis on self-reliance, deliberate living and independence from social expectations. Keeping to one’s own track does not necessarily mean rejecting advice or community, but it does require deciding consciously which values and ambitions to pursue. The quote therefore presents individuality as an active responsibility: a person must identify a direction that genuinely belongs to them and continue along it even when more conventional routes appear easier or more widely accepted.