The best way out is always through.

The wording occurs in North of Boston (1914), but this does not establish Frost as the originator of the broader adage. Quote Investigator traces a related only-way-out version to an anonymous Harper’s Weekly editorial of 1870 and a 1871 reprint that names George William Curtis; those earlier printings were not inspected here.

A woman talks to a visitor while describing the cooking and washing she does for hired men. She says she needs rest rather than medicine, then reports Len’s advice to keep going and agrees only because she can see no other exit for herself. Later she recalls a stay in the State Asylum and a family history of confinement; near the end she asks the visitor not to leave and says she will never catch up with the work.

As Len’s advice, the sentence recommends getting past hardship by continuing through it. His wife’s qualified agreement is closer to resignation: she cannot see an alternative, even though the repeated labour is what exhausts her.

Widely detached as Frost’s confident resilience motto. The dramatic speaker reports someone else’s advice and immediately limits her agreement. It is not a general instruction from Frost to ignore exhaustion or to forgo help.

Suffering, Work, Wisdom, Despair

• A sex symbol is a heavy load to carry when one is tired, hurt and bewildered. (misattributed) Marilyn Monroe
• I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. (not found) Steve Jobs
• I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
• The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up. Chuck Palahniuk
• Choosing seemed to me not so much selecting as rejecting what I did not select. André Gide

• archive.org/details/northofboston00frosrich (North of Boston, London: David Nutt, 1914, first edition: page images, pp. 69-70)
• gutenberg.org/ebooks/3026 (Project Gutenberg e-text: public domain in the US only, not stored here)
• quoteinvestigator.com/2025/06/30/way-out
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost

Robert Frost, North of Boston (1914), ‘A Servant to Servants’, the passage beginning with Len’s advice about one more steady pull; North of Boston (1914), pp. 69-70. Spoken by an unnamed overworked woman. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/the-best-way-out-is-always-through/ (23 October 2026).

Have a different wording, or a source we missed? Check it or submit it.

Do you hold the rights to anything on this page? Tell us.