105 Best Robert Frost Quotes From The American Poet

Srija Chanda
Dec 12, 2023 By Srija Chanda
Originally Published on Feb 27, 2021
Edited by Jacob Fitzbright
The home and gardens of poet Robert Frost in Vermont.
Age: 0-99
Read time: 12.6 Min

Robert Frost's first poem, 'My Butterfly: An Elegy' was published in 1894.

Robert Frost mostly utilized 'ABAB' or 'ABCB' rhyme schemes in his poetry. The poems of Robert Frost were inspired by nature and by the works of British poets too.

The following Robert Frost quotes include Robert Frost poetry quotes, and fun quotations by Robert Frost, and quotes from Robert Frost on nature, love, life and death. Once you read these quotes, you'll realize that no one else can write like him. Some of the famous Robert Frost quotes on motivation will give you a lot of self confidence in yourself and make you want to achieve your goals. His work is used within academia, in the education sector and in theatre and film. These Robert Frost quotes have made a lot of difference in many people's lives. Here are the best Robert Frost quotes.

If you enjoyed these Robert Frost quotes, check out T.S Eliot quotes and Emily Dickinson quotes.

Robert Frost Quotes On Nature

A woman's hand holding flowers and a poetry book in a romantic vibe.

Frost was once a teacher at Middlebury College. Here is a list of Robert Frost quotes about mother nature.

1. "These 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."

- Robert Frost.

2. "How countlessly they congregate

O'er our tumultuous snow,

Which flows in shapes as tall as trees

When wintry winds do blow!"

- Robert Frost.

3. "I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

– Robert Frost.

4. "The city had withdrawn into itself

And left at last the country to the country."

- Robert Frost.

5. "Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold."

– Robert Frost.

6. "Before man came to blow it right

The wind once blew itself untaught."

– Robert Frost.

7. "Nature does not complete things. She is chaotic."

– Robert Frost.

8. "My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make."

- Robert Frost.

9. "One could do worse than be a swinger of birches."

– Robert Frost.

10. "A thousand Christmas trees I didn't know I had!"

– Robert Frost.

11. "Nature is always hinting at us. It hints over and over again. And suddenly we take the hint."

– Robert Frost.

12. "So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay."

- Robert Frost.

13. "I see for Nature no defeat

In one tree's overthrow

Or for myself in my retreat

For yet another blow."

– Robert Frost.

14. "Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice."

- Robert Frost.

15. "The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day."

– Robert Frost.

16. "I have been one acquainted with the night."

- Robert Frost.

17. "I'd hate to be a runaway from nature."

– Robert Frost.

18. "Whose woods these are I think I know

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow."

- Robert Frost.

19. "When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them."

- Robert Frost.

20. "Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back."

- Robert Frost.

21. "The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued."

- Robert Frost.

22. "The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected."

- Robert Frost.

Robert Frost Quotes On Love

Here are a few quotes from the poet who was also a recipient of the congressional gold medal. These Robert Frost love quotes will blow you away.

22. "Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."

– Robert Frost.

23. "To be social is to be forgiving."

- Robert Frost.

24. "We love the things we love for what they are."

– Robert Frost.

25. "I am one who has been acquainted with the night."

- Robert Frost.

26. "There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate."

– Robert Frost.

27. "What is done is done for the love of it- or not really done at all."

- Robert Frost.

28. "A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes."

– Robert Frost.

29. "Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?"

- Robert Frost.

30. "My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane."

– Robert Frost.

31. "I always entertain great hopes."

– Robert Frost.

32. "Say something to us we can learn

By heart and when alone repeat."

- Robert Frost.

Like A Star'.

33. "The heart can think of no devotion Greater than being shore to the ocean- Holding the curve of one position, counting an endless repetition."

– Robert Frost.

34. "Within, the bride in the dusk alone

Bent over the open fire,

Her face rose-red with the glowing coal

And the thought of the heart's desire."

– Robert Frost.

35. "You don't have to deserve your mother's love. You have to deserve your father's. He's more particular."

- Robert Frost.

36. "He asked with the eyes more than the lips

For a shelter for the night,

And he turned and looked at the road afar

Without a window light."

– Robert Frost.

37. "You've got to love what's lovable, and hate what's hateable. It takes brains to see the difference."

- Robert Frost.

38. "Let us look at the sky,

And question what of the night to be,

Stranger, you and I."

– Robert Frost.

39. "A poet never takes notes.. you never take notes in a Love Affair."

- Robert Frost.

40. "But whether or not a man was asked

To mar the love of two

By harboring woe in the bridal house,

The bridegroom wished he knew ."

– Robert Frost.

41. "Hope is not found in a way out but a way through."

- Robert Frost.

42. "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out."

– Robert Frost.

Motivational Robert Frost Quotes

Here is a list of Robert Frost quotes to nudge you towards success.

43. "The best way out is always through."

– Robert Frost.

44. "A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel."

– Robert Frost.

45. "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."

– Robert Frost.

46. "An idea is a feat of association, and the height of it is a good metaphor."

- Robert Frost.

47. "Thinking isn't agreeing or disagreeing. That's voting."

– Robert Frost.

48. "Humour is the most engaging cowardice."

- Robert Frost.

49. "I am not a teacher, but an awakener."

– Robert Frost.

50. "At bottom the world isn't a joke."

- Robert Frost.

51. "Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee and I'll forgive Thy great big one on me."

– Robert Frost

52. "Belief is better than anything else, and it is best when rapt."

- Robert Frost.

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

– Robert Frost.

54. "A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer."

- Robert Frost.

55. "They cannot scare me with their empty spaces between stars."

– Robert Frost.

56. "You've got to be brave and you've got to be bold."

- Robert Frost.

57. "Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length."

– Robert Frost.

58. "A successful lawsuit is the one worn by a policeman."

- Robert Frost.

59. "The middle of the road is where the white line is - and that's the worst place to drive."

– Robert Frost.

60. "How many things would you attempt If you knew you could not fail?"

– Robert Frost.

61. "I never dared to be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old."

– Robert Frost.

62. "Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves."

– Robert Frost.

63. "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

– Robert Frost.

64. "Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."

- Robert Frost.

Robert Frost Quotes On Life and Death

Although life and death are beyond our control, here are few quotes to grasp the concept better. Frost wrote many famous poems about life. These Robert Frost quotes about life and death will make you understand his perspective better.

64. "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."

– Robert Frost.

65. "The chief reason for going to school is to get the impression fixed for life that there is a book side for everything."

– Robert Frost.

66. "My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still."

- Robert Frost.

67. "If one by one we counted people out, for the least sin, it wouldn't take us long to get so we had no one left to live with."

– Robert Frost.

68. "Freedom lies in being bold."

– Robert Frost.

69. "The nearest friends can go

With anyone to death, comes so far short

They might as well not try to go at all."

- Robert Frost.

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

– Robert Frost.

71. "There may be little or much beyond the grave, but the strong are saying nothing until they see."

- Robert Frost.

72. "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

– Robert Frost.

73. "How many things have to happen to you before something occurs to you?"

– Robert Frost.

74. "The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work."

– Robert Frost.

75. "Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor."

– Robert Frost.

76. "A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone."

– Robert Frost.

77. "Worry kills more people than work."

– Robert Frost.

78. "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."

– Robert Frost.

79. "What we live by we die by."

- Robert Frost.

80. "Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it."

– Robert Frost.

81. "Friends make pretense of following to the grave,

But before one is in it, their minds are turned."

– Robert Frost.

82. "Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor."

– Robert Frost.

83. "Every poem is a momentary stay against the confusion of the world."

– Robert Frost.

84. "Take care to sell your horse before he dies. The art of life is passing losses on."

– Robert Frost.

Robert Frost Quotes On Human Nature

Human nature is very interesting. Observe how so with these Robert Frost quotes.

85. "I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn ."

– Robert Frost.

86. "I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way ."

– Robert Frost.

87. "Take nature altogether since time began,

Including human nature, in peace and war,

And it must be a little more in favor of man ."

– Robert Frost.

88. "There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can't move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies ."

– Robert Frost.

89. "For hard it is to keep from being King

When it's in you and in the situation."

– Robert Frost.

90. "The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them ."

– Robert Frost.

91. "Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak ."

- Robert Frost.

92. "By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day ."

– Robert Frost.

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

– Robert Frost.

94. "The brain starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office."

– Robert Frost.

95. "I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed."

– Robert Frost.

96. "A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain ."

– Robert Frost.

Robert Frost Quotes On Poetry

If you love poetry, you're going to love these excerpts from Robert Frost poems and written work. Who can better talk about poetry than a poet himself? Keep reading these Robert Frost quotes.

97. "Poetry is what gets lost in translation ."

– Robert Frost.

98. "A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom."

– Robert Frost.

99. "A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. "

– Robert Frost.

100. "The figure a poem makes a momentary stay against confusion."

– Robert Frost.

101. "To be a poet is a condition, not a profession ."

– Robert Frost.

102. "My definition of poetry, if I were forced to give one, would be this: words that have become deeds."

– Robert Frost.

103. "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words ."

– Robert Frost.

104. "Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down ."

- Robert Frost

105. "Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat ."

– Robert Frost.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Robert Frost quotes then why not take a look at Walt Whitman quotes, or Keats quotes.

Main image credit: hw22 / Shutterstock.com

We Want Your Photos!
We Want Your Photos!

We Want Your Photos!

Do you have a photo you are happy to share that would improve this article?
Email your photos

More for You

See All

Written by Srija Chanda

Master of Arts specializing in Mass Communication/Media Studies

Srija Chanda picture

Srija ChandaMaster of Arts specializing in Mass Communication/Media Studies

An aspiring media professional, Srija is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Mass Communication at St. Xavier's University, Kolkata, after completing her degree in journalism. With experience in PR and social media, she has also honed her leadership skills through her participation in a youth parliament. Srija's interests include devouring books, watching movies, and exploring new places through travel.

Read full bio >