New Year quotes for toasts, cards and resolutions
New Year's Eve has its own small library of famous lines, from Auld Lang Syne to Tennyson's bells. These are checked against the original texts, with lines that work at midnight.
Scrooge, shown his own lonely grave, promises to live by the spirit of Christmas, meaning generosity and kindness, every day of the year, not just on December 25.
Read the full explanation →Everyone, king or cobbler, feels something on New Year's Day, because it is the day from which we all count our time and reckon how much is left.
Read the full explanation →Everyone makes good resolutions on January 1 and breaks them within days. Twain teases his readers that they will soon be “paving hell” with their good intentions, as they do every year.
Read the full explanation →The poet asks the New Year's bells to ring away the old year's grief, quarrels and injustice and to ring in kindness, truth and peace.
Read the full explanation →The song asks whether old friends should be forgotten, and answers no. “Auld lang syne” means roughly “old long since,” or “the good old days,” and the singers drink a cup of kindness to them.
Read the full explanation →A prayer to understand how short life is, so that we spend our days wisely.
Read the full explanation →The present day is never ordinary. Emerson warns against the illusion that the important moment is always somewhere else, and says today is the critical, decisive day.
Read the full explanation →No quotes match these filters yet. New quotes are added every week.
How to use a quote at New Year
A midnight toast has to be short, because the countdown will not wait. Say the quote a minute or two before twelve, add one sentence of your own about the year that is ending, and lift your glass.
Choose the mood you want. Tennyson and Burns are hopeful and a little moving; Mark Twain is a good laugh for a room that is already cheerful. If the year was hard for your family or friends, a gentle line about ringing out the old works better than a joke.
For cards or posts, pair the quote with a wish rather than a resolution. "Every day is the best day in the year, and I hope this year gives you plenty of them" is easier to receive than advice.