Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·137 of 348
"I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference."
They never said that.
What people say
"I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference."
What was actually said
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost — "The Road Not Taken" (1916)
Why it stuck
The poem is ironic — the speaker earlier admits the two paths "had worn them really about the same." The triumphant quote strips the irony and reverses the meaning.
The title is "The Road Not Taken," not "The Road Less Travelled" — the second most common error.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.