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Quotations : Happy New Year
Every man hath two birth-days: two days, at least, in every year, which set him upon revolving the lapse of time, as it affects his mortal duration. The one is that which in an especial manner he termeth his. In the gradual desuetude of old observances, this custom of solemnizing our proper birth-day hath nearly passed away; or is left to children, who reflect nothing at all about the matter, nor understand any thing in it beyond cake and orange. But the birth of a New Year is of an interest too wide to be pretermitted by king or cobbler. No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference. It is that from which all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our common Adam. ~Charles Lamb (1775–1834), "New Year's Eve," in The London Magazine, January 1821
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughan (1915–1977), in The Kansas City Star
Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits. ~Author unknown
A New Year's Resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. ~Executive's Treasury of Humor for Every Occasion by William R. Gerler, 1965
Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New-Year find you a better Man. ~Quoted in Benjamin Franklin's 1755 Poor Richard's Almanack, December
Every man should be born again on the first of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle, if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but, on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take interest in the things that are and are to be, and not in the things that were and are past. ~Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887), "A Completed Year," 1882 December 31st, quoted in Plymouth Pulpit: A Weekly Publication of Sermons Preached by Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, Vol. V, Printed from Mr. T.J. Ellinwood's Stenographic Reports
Last night, between eleven and twelve o'clock... the Old Year was leaving her final foot-prints on the borders of Time's empire.... she thus awaited the midnight knell that was to summon her to the innumerable sisterhood of departed years....
The New Year.... greeted the disconsolate Old Year with great affection, and sat down beside her... waiting for the signal to begin her rambles through the world. The two were own sisters, being both grand-daughters of Time; and though one looked so much older than the other, it was rather owing to hardships and trouble than to age, since there was but a twelve-month's difference between them.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864), "The Sister Years," Carrier's Address to Patrons of the Salem Gazette, 1839 January 1st
"I have a fine lot of hopes here in my basket," remarked the New Year. "They are a sweet-smelling flower—a species of rose."
"They soon lose their perfume," replied the sombre Old Year. "What else have you brought to insure a welcome from the discontented race of mortals?"
~Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864), "The Sister Years," Carrier's Address to Patrons of the Salem Gazette, 1839 January 1st
"Happy New-year! happy New-year!" It is the day of hope and a fresh beginning. Old debts shall be forgiven; old feuds forgotten; old friendships revived. To‑day shall be better than yesterday. The good vows shall be kept. A blessing shall be wrung from the fleet angel Opportunity. There shall be more patience, more courage, more faith; the dream shall become life; to‑day shall wear the glamour of to‑morrow. Ring out the old, ring in the new! ~George William Curtis (1824–1892), "Editor's Easy Chair," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, January 1887
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. ~Oprah Winfrey (b.1954)
While the bald trees stretch forth their long lank arms...
And nought more gladsome in the hedge is seen,
Than the dark holly's grimly glistening green—
At such a time, the ancient year goes by
To join its parents in eternity—
At such a time the merry year is born,
Like the bright berry from the naked thorn.
~Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849), "New-Year's Day," Poems, 1833
Time, the years, the seasons, the dreaming and the hopes which throb with life even under the ice and snow. There is an order to all things, a pressure of progression, and the winds themselves will die into nothingness and the tides wither away before the hopes shall have ended, the aspirations frozen forever. Year builds upon year, even as the seasons follow. And year's end is no end at all, but only a pause, a time for the deep breath that marks the next step forward. There is no halt, no turning back. Tomorrow rises in the east, and all the tomorrows. ~Hal Borland (1900–1978), "The Song of Time," 1945 December 31st
Then out through the gates of the midnight—
The door of the past was ajar—
His robe like a shroud wrapped around him,
The Old Year vanished afar.
And as morn with her soft rosy fingers
Flung open the gates of the East,
The New Year looked out from its chambers
With a smile and a blessing of peace.
~Eliza A. Wetherby Otis (1833–1904), "The Old and the New," December 1873, in Daily Ohio State Journal (Columbus), 1874 January 1st
The fire has burned low. The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months! Yet I do not see anything new about it. It is already fringed at the edges with inherited aches and unsolved problems.... O 1911! do your duty! ~Edward Payson Powell (1832–1915), "The New Year In: An Idyll," 1910 December 31st (Sorrento, Florida), in The Independent, 1911 January 5th
My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New:
Old Year! a parting word that's true,
For we've been comrades, you and I —
I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now! Old Year, good-bye!
~Robert W. Service, "The Passing of the Year," 1912
It is 9 o'clock, and I am sitting before the big fireplace in my library, where the pine knots are fast becoming ashes. Why not? Yes, why not see the Old Year out and the New Year in? I will pile more knots on the embers, and, leaning back in my chair, will see how the two years are mortised together. Why should I not help to look after these things, for I have had nearly eighty of these years, and every one of them chock full of gifts and goodness? I will have nothing to do with the doleful dolts, who count their troubles and see only what is missing. Tonight I shall see God tinkering at the joints of the years. Have you any idea how many years are locked together in one of these pine knots? Different trees, like different folk, vary in power to carry bruises and scratches. Early in life I learned there were two sides to everything, and I resolved that I would see always the bright side; I would stand as close as I could to God, and get his angle of vision. The more I see of the world, the more I am sure there is sunshine enough to go around. After all and thru it all, to make life worth the while, what we must have and make for health and growth, is soul-shine. ~Edward Payson Powell (1832–1915), "The New Year In: An Idyll," 1910 December 31st (Sorrento, Florida), in The Independent, 1911 January 5th
The bells ring out; the hoary steeple rocks—
Hark! the long story of a score of clocks;
For, once a year, the village clocks agree,
E'en clocks unite to sound the hour of glee—
And every cottage has a light awake,
Unusual stars long flicker o'er the lake.
~Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849), "New-Year's Day," Poems, 1833
The relentless punctuality, the unwearied urgency, of old Time, who turns his hour-glass with such a sonorous ring on New-year's Day... ~George William Curtis (1824–1892), "Editor's Easy Chair," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, January 1887
Comes now a smiling New-Born Year
To fill to-day with goodly cheer—
An infant hale and lusty.
Upon our door-sill he is left
By Daddy Time, of clothes bereft
Despite the season gusty.
If he be Churl or doughty Knight,
A Son of Darkness or of Light
No man can tell, God bless him!
But be he base or glorious
Time puts it wholly up to us
To dress him!
~John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922), "The New-Born Year" (January First), The Cheery Way: A Bit of Verse For Every Day, 1920
I fear thee not, O untried morrow! ~Julia B. Cady (d.1869), "New-Year Thoughts," in Sabbath at Home, January 1870
Christmas-day is the pleasantest day in the whole year. On that day we think tenderly of distant friends; we strive to forgive injuries—to close accounts with ourselves and the world—to begin the new year with a white leaf, and a trust that the chapter of life about to be written will contain more notable entries, a fairer sprinkling of good actions, fewer erasures made in blushes, and fewer ugly blots than some of the earlier ones. ~Alexander Smith (1829–1867), "Winter," 1863
Even while we sing he smiles his last,
And leaves our sphere behind.
The good old year is with the past;
Oh be the new as kind!
~William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), "A Song for New Year's Eve," 1857
O good New Year, we clasp
This warm shut hand of thine,
Loosing for ever, with half sigh, half gasp,
That which from ours falls like dead fingers' twine:
Ay, whether fierce its grasp
Has been, or gentle, having been, we know
That it was blessed: let the Old Year go.
~Dinah Maria Craik (1826–1887), "A Psalm for New Year's Eve," 1855
A Happy New Year! There is a glow of cheer and optimism in the very words "New Year." The old year, with its anxieties and worries, is over. It too brought happy days and sunshine, and in memory we must cherish the bright places. ~May Louise Crane, "Poet-O-Grams," American Poetry Magazine, January 1934
New Year's Day—Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion. ~Mark Twain (1835–1910), in Territorial Enterprise, 1863 January 1st
1. A Wise Man should never resolve upon any thing, at least never let the World know his Resolution, for if he cannot arrive at that, he is asham'd....
2. Never tell your Resolution before hand; but when the Cast is thrown, Play it as well as you can to win the Game you are at.
~John Selden (1584–1654), "Wisedom," Table-talk, published posthumously, 1689
When then is lost, as time is by,
we look upon the yearly wine
to see our substance in the lees.
Did tribe and purse most pleasing leave?
To look for clear and faithful sense,
that gives a bodied stance bouquet,
then see the vat at mirror's face
and find in it, the yearly pace.
~E. Marshall, "Vintner Epilogue (Happy Old Year)," 2008
Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year's resolutions, and I've stuck with it ever since. ~David J. Beard (1947–2016), tweet, 2009 December 31st
I am fading from you,
But one draweth near,
Called the Angel-guardian
Of the coming year.
If my gifts and graces
Coldly you forget,
Let the New Year's Angel
Bless and crown them yet...
May you hold this Angel
Dearer than the last,—
So, I bless his Future,
While he crowns my Past.
~Adelaide A. Procter (1825–1864), "The Old Year's Blessing," A Chaplet of Verses, 1862
I have always liked the idea of hearing the clock strike twelve on the last night of the old year.... wakeful to welcome the new year's angel when the old one has winged his flight from us, bearing with him the record of our inner years, its sins and sorrows. ~Claribel (Charlotte Alington Pye Barnard, 1830–1869), "New Year's Eve," Fireside Thoughts, Ballads, etc., etc., 1865
But then I do think New Year's resolutions can't technically be expected to begin on New Year's Day, don't you? Since, because it's an extension of New Year's Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. Also dieting on New Year's Day isn't a good idea as you can't eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second. ~Helen Fielding (b.1958), "Sunday 1 January," Bridget Jones's Diary, 1996
New Year's Eve, where auld acquaintance be forgot. Unless, of course, those tests come back positive. ~Jay Leno (b.1950)
For 'tis the season, when the nights are long,
There's time, e'er morn, for each to sing his song.
The year departs, a blessing on its head,
We mourn not for it, for it is not dead:
Dead? What is that? A word to joy unknown,
Which love abhors, and faith will never own.
~Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849), "New-Year's Day," Poems, 1833
There is too much said at New Year's about turning over a new leaf. Are the old leaves all so badly written that we must hasten to forget them? Is the blank whiteness of the untouched page more pleasant to the eye or more fortifying to the will than those closely written, underlined, untidy, but familiar pages which make up the story of one's life? ~Bliss Perry, "Turning the Old Leaves, The Atlantic Monthly, January 1907
I found that a new oath holds pretty well; but... when it is become old and frayed out and damaged by a dozen annual retryings of its remains, it ceases to be serviceable; any little strain will snap it. ~Mark Twain (1835–1910), speech, Tile Club Dinner for Laurence Hutton, New York, 1885 March 31st, quoted in Mark Twain Speaking, Paul Fatout, ed., University of Iowa Press, 1976
Now the year is dying fast...
All his children stand around...
Twelve there are: I dimly mark
All their figures in the dark,
Hovering near the patriarch...
Pressing the year's death-cold brow,
I rose up with many a vow.
~Caroline May (1820–c.1891), a.k.a. Caromaia, "The Dying Year's Counsels," in The Christian Treasury, 1880
All the west, whereon the sunset sealed the dead year's glorious grave
Fast with seals of light and fire and cloud that light and fire illume,
Glows at heart and kindles earth and heaven with joyous blush and bloom,
Warm and wide as life, and glad of death that only slays to save...
~Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909), "Sunset and Moonrise" (New Year's Eve, 1889)
Farewell, Old Year! the rustle of whose garment,
Fragrant with memory, I still can hear:
For all thy tender kindness and thy bounty
I drop my thankful tribute on thy bier.
What is in store for me, brave New Year, hidden
Beneath thy glistening robe of ice and snows?
Are there sweet songs of birds, and breath of lilacs,
And blushing blooms of June's scent-laden rose?...
~Julia B. Cady (d.1869), "New-Year Thoughts," in Sabbath at Home, January 1870
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: to rise above the little things. ~Author unknown
A spirit haunts the year's last hours
Dwelling amid these yellowing bowers...
The air is damp, and hush'd, and close,
As a sick man's room when he taketh repose
An hour before death;
