Quote #148

Sometimes I have my doubts of words altogether, and I ask myself what is the place of them. They are worse than nothing unless they do something; unless they amount to deeds, as in ultimatums or battle-cries. They must be flat and final like the show-down in poker, from which there is no appeal. My definition of poetry (if I were forced to give one) would be this: words that become deeds.

More from Robert Frost

  1. Poetry is the first thing lost in translation.
  2. [Style is] that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. It is the mind skating circles around itself as it move…
  3. 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 tr…
  4. The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.
  5. Isn't it funny that anything the Supreme Court says is right?
  6. The chief reason for going to school is to get the impression fixed for life that there is a book side for everything.
  7. In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life - It goes on.
  8. The ear does it. The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.

All Robert Frost quotes