New year, old quotes
Baby it’s cold and wet outside. And, I’m good with that. While others, many others, across our country will spend this evening drinking, setting off fireworks, drinking, wearing ridiculous paper hats, drinking, sounding noise makers, drinking, releasing explosions of confetti, drinking, making resolutions and drinking, I’ll be all cuddled up by the fire with a hot toddy and “The Littles” — our pups: Max, Molly and Stormy. And,
I’m good with that.
In fact, I’ll be totally content observing my own New Year’s traditions. I’ll close up and tuck away my 2022 date book and unwrap my 2023 planner. Cracking open a new planner is the first step in writing a new chapter in my life. The first line written or the first action taken is the key to either a great 365 day tale of action and adventure or 365 day made for television drama.
Over the years I have collected and kept a file of New Year’s quotes. Some I have kept because they make me laugh like this one from Mark Twain: “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.” And others, like this one from Edith Lovejoy Pierce, because they inspire me,
“We will open the book.
Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
Every year, well almost every year, on New Year’s Eve I pull out this file of quotes — some neatly typed on clean white paper, some scrawled in my terrible handwriting on the backs of old envelopes — and re-read them.
Since today is the last day of the year, what better way to re-enjoy this little five-minute tradition of mine than with you, my readers? Sooooo …. Here we go. I hope you find one worthy of posting on your refrigerator.
“Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in 10 years you may have made 3,650 persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.” — Sydney Smith
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words wait another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” — T.S. Elliot
“Cheers to a New Year and another chance to get it right.” — Oprah Winfrey.
“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” — Anonymous.
“Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year’s resolutions, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.” — Dave Beard
“May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.” — Joey Adams
“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.” — John Burroughs
“Your Merry Christmas may depend on what others do for you … but your Happy New Year depends on what you do for others.” — Anonymous
“On New Year’s Eve, the whole world celebrates the fact that date changes. Let us celebrate the dates on which we change the world” — Akilnathan Logeswaran
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man” — Benjamin Franklin
“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect” — Alan Cohen
“The New Year is a painting not yet painted; a path not yet stepped on; a wing not yet taken off! Things haven’t happened as yet! Before the clock strikes twelve, remember that you are blessed with the ability to reshape your life!” — Mehmet Murat ildan
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” — Eleanor Roosevelt
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow” — Albert Einstein
“New year is the glittering light to brighten the dream-lined pathway of future.” — Munia Khan
“You can get excited about the future. The past won’t mind.” — Hillary DePiano
“No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again” — Jack Kornfield
“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it.” — Mother Teresa
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot
“You’ll never get bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do.” — Dr. Seuss
“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’” — Alfred
Lord Tennyson
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” — Micheal Altshuler
“No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.” — Buddha
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.” — Nido Qubein
“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.” — Ellen Goodman