I found a blog which considers this very question. It seems that most people attribute the saying to T.S. Eliot, but I've been unable to find any references or evidence. The Journey Not the Arrival Matters is the title of an autobiography by Leonard Woolf (Virginia Woolf's husband), who died in 1969. A 1989 New York Times' review of Woolf's letters attributes the title observation to 16th century French philosopher Montaigne. Here is a quote from the blog, giving the closest quote from Montaigne:
In the essay "Of Vanity," Montaigne did write (in this 1877 Charles Cotton translation)
"But, at such an age, you will never return from so long a journey." What care I for that? I neither undertake it to return, nor to finish it: my business is only to keep myself in motion, whilst motion pleases me; I only walk for the walk's sake.
My search turned up as many people quoting Montaigne as the source as Eliot. I think this is an aphorism that is difficult to trace-it may be unlikely that we will know who truly said it, when, & in what context.
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