We love the things we love for what they are.
Genuine
Yes. In Mountain Interval (1916), ‘Hyla Brook’, final line (line 15), said by the poem’s lyric speaker. These are the character’s words, not a statement in Frost’s own voice.
Checked against Robert Frost, ‘Hyla Brook’, Mountain Interval (Henry Holt, 1916), published text at the Academy of American Poets, in a full-text transcription.
- Work
- Mountain Interval, 1916
- Where
- ‘Hyla Brook’, final line (line 15)
- Source
- Robert Frost, ‘Hyla Brook’, Mountain Interval (Henry Holt, 1916), published text at the Academy of American Poets
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 27 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
By June the brook has dried up, its frogs are gone, and vegetation and dead leaves occupy its bed. Only someone who remembers its flowing season can still recognize it as a brook. The speaker contrasts this unglamorous local stream with the streams celebrated in other poems, then ends with the statement about love.
What it means
Affection attaches to a particular thing as it really is, not only to an ideal or picturesque version of it. Memory helps sustain that attachment when the beloved place no longer looks impressive.
Often misread
It can serve as a statement about accepting a person, but the poem’s immediate object is a seasonal brook, not a romantic partner. Its point depends on the difference between an actual, sometimes dry stream and an ideal poetic landscape.
Topics
Related quotes
- We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. (misattributed) Dr. Seuss
- To love at all is to be vulnerable. C. S. Lewis
- We accept the love we think we deserve. Stephen Chbosky
- To love someone means to see him as God intended him. (misattributed) Fyodor Dostoevsky
- no one would choose to live without friends. Aristotle
Cite it
Robert Frost, Mountain Interval (1916), ‘Hyla Brook’, final line (line 15). Spoken by the poem’s lyric speaker. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/we-love-the-things-we-love-for-what-they-are/ (27 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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