Miles to go before I sleep

Meaning

The idiom "miles to go before I sleep" means that there is a long way to go or a lot of work left to do before something can be completed. It expresses the idea that one has not yet reached the end of their task, and that there are still many steps left to take. The phrase was popularized by Robert Frost in his poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," where he wrote: "I had miles to go before I slept / And miles to go before I slept."

Usage

• After finishing the presentation, John turned to me and said, "I still have miles to go before I can relax."
• The hiker looked up at the mountain and thought, "There are miles to go before I reach the summit."
• My boss told me that I had miles to go before I could be promoted to a higher position.
• The athlete ran for hours on end, determined to complete her training before it was too dark to continue.
• As I sat in traffic on my way home, I realized that I still had miles to go before I could finally arrive at my destination.

Roots and History

The phrase "miles to go before I sleep" first appeared in Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," published in 1923. The poem tells the story of a traveler who stops to admire the beauty of the snow-covered woods, but ultimately continues on his journey because there are still miles left to go before he can rest. Over time, the phrase has become a popular idiom used to express the idea that there is still work to be done before something can be completed.

Synonyms in English

• There's still a long way to go.
• We've got miles to cover yet.
• There's still much to do before we're finished.
• We're not quite there yet.
• We've still got a lot of work left to do.

Synonyms in other languages

• "Still much to do" (Spanish)
• "Mucho que hacer" (French)
• "Non è finito" (Italian)
• "Tak skoro" (German)
• "Eще многое дела доделано" (Russian)

Similar Idioms

• beck and call

• in for a penny, in for a pound

• make a long story short