Robert Frost

Poet

Modern influential 108 sayings

Sayings by Robert Frost

Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.

Unknown — Attributed, often cited in management or political contexts. Specific source is hard to nail down.
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better.

1916 — From his poem 'Birches' (1916)
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I am not a liberal. I am a radical. I am as radical as anything you ever saw.

c. 1930s — Quoted by Lawrance Thompson in 'Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915-1938'
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The only way to be original is to be yourself.

Unknown — Attributed, widely cited in various quote collections, precise source can be difficult to verify.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.

Unknown — Attributed, often found in collections of humor and wisdom, but a precise original source from Frost…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.

Unknown — Attributed, common in quote collections, but specific documented source is elusive.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I'm not a nature lover. I don't love nature. I love some of it. I love some people, but I don't love humanity.

c. 1930s — Quoted by Lawrance Thompson in 'Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915-1938'
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

One had to be an undergraduate to understand anything at all.

1915 — Letter to Louis Untermeyer, 1915
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The reason why we have poetry is to have a momentary stay against confusion.

1939 — Preface to 'Collected Poems' (1939)
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

Unknown — Attributed, widely cited, but specific documented source is elusive.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over.

1916 — From his poem 'Birches' (1916)
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I am not a teacher, I am an awakener.

Unknown — Attributed, often cited in educational contexts. Specific source is hard to nail down.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

What makes a poem a poem is the way it sounds. It must sound right. It must have the sound of sense.

1960 — Interview with Richard Poirier, 'The Art of Poetry No. 2' in The Paris Review
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I never had a theory. I just wrote.

c. 1950s — Quoted in 'Robert Frost: A Life' by Jay Parini
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

You have to be a person of words. You have to be a person of ideas.

1960 — Interview with Richard Poirier, 'The Art of Poetry No. 2' in The Paris Review
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.

1923 — From his poem 'A Withered Field' (1923)
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I'm not a reformer. I'm an artist.

Unknown, but widely cited — Quoted in 'Robert Frost: The Man and the Poet' by Edward Connery Lathem
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest thing in life is to die young, but to postpone it as long as possible.

Unknown — Attributed, often cited in humorous contexts, but precise original source from Frost is not easily f…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I would like to be a person of words. I would like to be a person of ideas. I am not.

1960 — Interview with Richard Poirier, 'The Art of Poetry No. 2' in The Paris Review (This is a subtle misq…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

1923 — From his poem 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' (1923)
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable