"Scholars and artists thrown together are often annoyed at the puzzle of where they differ. Both work from knowledge; but I suspectthey differ most importantly in the way their knowledge is come by. Scholars get theirs with conscientious thoroughness along projected lines of logic; poets theirs cavalierly and as it happens in and out of books. They stick to nothing deliberately, but let what will stick to them like burrs where they walk in the fields."
Quote collection
Robert Frost quotes (page 22 of 24)
480 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Don't join too many gangs. Join few if any. Join the United States and join the family- But not much in between unless a college."
"I could define poetry this way: it is that which is lost out of both prose and verse in translation."
"Yet some say Love by being thrall And simply staying possesses all In several beauty that Thought fares far To find fused in another star."
"Love has earth to which she clings."
"There is no love. There's only love of men and women, love Of children, love of friends, of men, of God: Divine love, human love, parental love, Roughly discriminated for the rough."
"Let those possess the land, and only those, Who love it with a love so strong and stupid That they may be abused and taken advantage of And made fun of by business, law, and art."
"A man has got to keep his extrication. The important thing is not to get bogged down In what he has to do to earn a living."
"Trust him to have his bitter politics Against his unacquaintances the rich Who sleep in houses of their own, though mortgaged. Conservatives, they don't know what to save."
"If one by one we counted people out"
"When I was young my teachers were the old. I gave up fire for form till I was cold."
"Space ails us moderns: we are sick with space."
"What are we? Young or new? We must be something."
"Summary riposte To the dreary wail There's no knowing what Love is all about. Poets know a lot."
"Nations like the Cuban and the Swiss Can never hope to wage a Global Mission. No Holy Wars for them. The most the small Can ever give us is a nuisance brawl."
"Memento mori and obey the Lord. Art and religion love the somber chord."
"The best way to hate is the worst. 'Tis to find what the hated need, Never mind of what actual worth, And wipe that out of the earth. Let them die of unsatisfied greed."
"A turning point in modern history."
"Sentences are not different enough to hold the attention unless they are dramatic. No ingenuity of varying structure will do. All that can save them is the speaking tone of voice somehow entangled in the words and fastened to the page for the ear of the imagination. That is all that can save poetry from sing-song, all that can save prose from itself."
"But I may be one who does not care Ever to have tree bloom or bear."