Quotes about change are short lines that help you face what is shifting in your life, let go of what is finished, and grow into what comes next. Change is coming either way. The only question is whether you fight it or let God use it to build you. This list has 40 verified quotes about change, from James Baldwin and John F. Kennedy to Octavia Butler, Scripture and a few of my own. Every line is traced to a book, speech, letter or interview, and the famous fakes were left off. If you are standing at the start of a new season, pair this page with these new year quotes on fresh starts.

Quotes About Change: Embracing What Comes Next

1. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy

2. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw

3. “Change is not merely necessary to life; it is life.” – Alvin Toffler

4. “Change based on principle is progress. Constant change without principle becomes chaos.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

5. “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” – Harold Wilson

6. “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

7. “Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast.” – Charles Dickens

8. “Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change?” – Marcus Aurelius

9. “Five years from now, the change you’re scared of today will be your normal. The only question is whether you chose it or it chose you.” – Joel Brown

10. “There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place.” – Washington Irving

11. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts

12. “Some people wait to feel ready, then change. Others change, then feel ready. Only one of them ever starts.” – Joel Brown

13. “Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Personal Change Quotes: It Starts With You

14. “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin

15. “‘How do I know it’s time to change?’ When staying the same starts costing you more than changing would.” – Joel Brown

16. “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.” – Mahatma Gandhi

17. “Get 1% better at something every day and you won’t recognize yourself in a year. Change rarely feels big while it’s happening. It just adds up quietly.” – Joel Brown

18. “The change is from inner to outer. — We start by dissolving our attitude not by altering outer conditions.” – Bruce Lee

19. “People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.” – Malcolm X

20. “Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.” – Audre Lorde

21. “People who want a cure, provided they can have it without pain, are like those who favour progress, provided they can have it without change.” – Anthony de Mello

22. “People love the idea of being transformed until the process actually starts removing things they like.” – Joel Brown

23. “The longer you avoid the decision, the more of your life gets built around avoiding it.” – Joel Brown

24. “Most men will research the perfect life and still refuse the simple obedience that would build it.” – Joel Brown

Growth and Change Quotes: Becoming Who You Were Made to Be

Change is not the goal. Growth is. These lines are about who you become on the other side. For the mindset that keeps you hopeful while it happens, read these positive thinking quotes.

25. “In a higher world it is otherwise; but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” – John Henry Newman

26. “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” – Anatole France

27. “Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.” – Margaret Wheatley

28. “A caterpillar doesn’t get wings by trying harder to be a caterpillar. Sometimes growth means letting the old version of you fall apart.” – Joel Brown

29. “Great change begins with small steps taken at home.” – Amy Goodman

30. “All that you touch / You Change. / All that you Change / Changes you. / The only lasting truth / Is Change. / God / Is Change.” – Octavia E. Butler

31. “Growth is the only evidence of life.” – John Henry Newman

32. “The season you’re in is changing you, even when it feels like nothing is changing. Roots grow underground first.” – Joel Brown

33. “Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself.” – Julia Cameron

34. “That men may rise on stepping-stones / Of their dead selves to higher things.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Faith and Change Quotes: What God Makes New

35. “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

36. “You’re not afraid of change. You’re afraid of losing who you were before you meet who you’re becoming. That gap is where faith lives.” – Joel Brown

37. “For I am the LORD, I change not” – Malachi 3:6

38. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you” – Ezekiel 36:26

39. “Before you ask God to change your situation, ask Him what the situation is trying to change in you. Sometimes you’re the miracle He’s working on.” – Joel Brown

40. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” – Hebrews 13:8

You do not need to change everything this week. Change one thing you have been avoiding and watch how much else moves with it. Which of these quotes about change are you taking with you today?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good quote about change?

One of the strongest sourced lines is James Baldwin’s “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” It ran in The New York Times Book Review in 1962. John F. Kennedy’s “Change is the law of life” from his 1963 Frankfurt speech is another.

Did Gandhi say, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”?

Not in those words. The short version is a later paraphrase. The closest line Gandhi actually wrote comes from Indian Opinion in 1913: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.” That verified line is the one on this list.

Did Charles Darwin say it is not the strongest species that survives, but the most adaptable to change?

No. Wikiquote lists it as misattributed. The wording traces to a 1963 paraphrase of Darwin by management professor Leon C. Megginson, not to anything Darwin wrote.

Who said you cannot step into the same river twice?

The idea comes from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, but only fragments of his writing survive. It reaches us through Plato’s Cratylus (402a): “You could not step twice into the same river.” The popular modern wordings are paraphrases.

New Year quotes get pasted onto midnight posts and vision boards, and plenty of them were never said by the person in the caption. I wanted a list I could stand behind: 61 New Year quotes, including lines you can actually find in a poem, an essay or the Bible, with the wording checked against a source, not a meme, plus a few of my own.

You’ll find a few of my own New Year quotes first, then Tennyson ringing out the old, Chesterton on why a new year needs a new soul, Anne of Green Gables on a day with no mistakes in it yet, and a few verses about mercies that are new every morning. The point is not to collect every slogan about January. It’s to keep the lines that still mean something when the year gets ordinary. The ones about fresh starts, New Year’s resolutions you might actually keep, and a new year of growth that does not depend on a perfect first week.

New Year Quotes: From Joel Brown

1. “A year from now you’ll wish you had started today. Not with a perfect plan. Just with the first ugly step.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

2. “I regret to inform you that January 1st won’t change you. It’s just a Friday with fireworks. Your habits on January 2nd will.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

3. “Read 10 pages a day in 2027. That’s 3,650 pages, roughly 12 to 15 books. One year of 20-minute mornings can rewire how you think.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

4. “Some people want a new year. Others want a new them. The calendar can only give you one of those.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

5. “Stop setting resolutions. Decide who you’re going to be, then ask what that person does on a Tuesday. Goals fade. Identity sticks.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

6. “‘Why do my resolutions always fail by February?’ Because you added 10 changes to a life with no room for one. Remove something before you add something.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

7. “If last year broke your heart, this year doesn’t have to repeat it. You’re walking in with scars, not a sentence. Scars mean you healed.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

8. “Want 2027 to be your best year? Keep one promise to yourself every single day, even a tiny one. Confidence is just a stack of kept promises.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

9. “A new year is a blank page, not a new book. Same author. Same story so far. But you get to decide what the next chapter is about.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

10. “This year I’ll pray more and panic less. Build more and scroll less. Listen more and argue less. Give more and need less. That’s the whole plan.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

New Year Quotes: Ring Out the Old

11. “Ring out wild bells to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

12. “Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

13. “Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

14. “Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

15. “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
Source: “New Year's Eve,” in The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook 10343

16. “Of all sounds of all bells–(bells, the music nighest bordering upon heaven)–most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year.” – Charles Lamb
Source: “New Year's Eve,” in The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook 10343

17. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne!” – Robert Burns
Source: “Auld Lang Syne,” in Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, Project Gutenberg ebook 1279

18. “For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.” – Robert Burns
Source: “Auld Lang Syne,” in Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, Project Gutenberg ebook 1279

New Year Quotes: Fresh Starts and New Beginnings

19. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source: “Works and Days,” in Society and Solitude, Project Gutenberg ebook 69258

20. “Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” – L. M. Montgomery
Source: Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 21, Project Gutenberg ebook 45

21. “Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future, without fear, and with a manly heart.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: Hyperion, Project Gutenberg ebook 5436

22. “Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “A Psalm of Life,” in Voices of the Night, Wikisource

23. “Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,—act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o'erhead!” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “A Psalm of Life,” in Voices of the Night, Wikisource

24. “Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “A Psalm of Life,” in Voices of the Night, Wikisource

25. “The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes.” – G. K. Chesterton
Source: “New Year's Day,” in A Chesterton Calendar, Project Gutenberg ebook 45811 (from the Daily News)

26. “There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of Myself,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

27. “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of the Open Road,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

28. “Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

29. “Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Conclusion,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

New Year Quotes: Resolutions and a Better Self

30. “Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.” – G. K. Chesterton
Source: “New Year's Day,” in A Chesterton Calendar, Project Gutenberg ebook 45811 (from the Daily News)

31. “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Conclusion,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

32. “We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

33. “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

34. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Conclusion,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

35. “Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune, Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, Strong and content I travel the open road.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of the Open Road,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

36. “Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of the Open Road,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

37. “Reset fast. Bad day. Bad week. Bad year. Start again like a man.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 18 Sep 2026, PT

38. “Your next chapter doesn’t need the approval of people who were only comfortable with the old you.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 22 Jul 2026, PT

39. “Every new chapter in life is a learning lesson. Be a sponge, soak up knowledge, and trust that God is guiding you.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 4 Jul 2024, PT

New Year Quotes: Scripture and a New Heart

40. “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:18-19, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 43:18-19 KJV, Bible Gateway

41. “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23, King James Version
Source: Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV, Bible Gateway

42. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17, King James Version
Source: 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

43. “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” – Revelation 21:5, King James Version
Source: Revelation 21:5 KJV, Bible Gateway

44. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14, King James Version
Source: Philippians 3:13-14 KJV, Bible Gateway

45. “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.” – Psalm 65:11, King James Version
Source: Psalm 65:11 KJV, Bible Gateway

46. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12, King James Version
Source: Psalm 90:12 KJV, Bible Gateway

47. “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24, King James Version
Source: Psalm 118:24 KJV, Bible Gateway

48. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” – Ecclesiastes 3:1, King James Version
Source: Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

49. “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 40:31 KJV, Bible Gateway

50. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16, King James Version
Source: 2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV, Bible Gateway

New Year Quotes: Hope for the Year Ahead

51. “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24, King James Version
Source: Ephesians 4:22-24 KJV, Bible Gateway

52. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” – Philippians 1:6, King James Version
Source: Philippians 1:6 KJV, Bible Gateway

53. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” – Psalm 51:10, King James Version
Source: Psalm 51:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

54. “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” – Joshua 1:9, King James Version
Source: Joshua 1:9 KJV, Bible Gateway

55. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” – Romans 12:2, King James Version
Source: Romans 12:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

56. “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” – Numbers 6:24-26, King James Version
Source: Numbers 6:24-26 KJV, Bible Gateway

57. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9, King James Version
Source: Proverbs 16:9 KJV, Bible Gateway

58. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” – Psalm 37:5, King James Version
Source: Psalm 37:5 KJV, Bible Gateway

59. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2, King James Version
Source: Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV, Bible Gateway

60. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” – Isaiah 41:10, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 41:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

61. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33, King James Version
Source: Matthew 6:33 KJV, Bible Gateway

FAQ: New Year Quotes

What are the best New Year quotes?

The best New Year quotes are the ones that still hold after the first week of January, and that you can find in a real book or speech. This list keeps 61 of them, including Tennyson’s “Ring out the old, ring in the new,” Chesterton on why a new year needs a new soul, and Lamentations 3:23: “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

What is a famous Bible verse for the New Year?

Isaiah 43:18-19 is often read at the turn of the year: “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing.” Lamentations 3:22-23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and Psalm 65:11 (“Thou crownest the year with thy goodness”) belong with it.

What is a good New Year quote about fresh starts?

Anne of Green Gables puts it simply: “Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” Longfellow, in Hyperion, writes: “Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present.”

What did Tennyson write about the New Year?

The New Year passage in In Memoriam is the lyric often called “Ring Out, Wild Bells.” The lines people remember first are “Ring out the old, ring in the new” and “Ring out the false, ring in the true,” from canto CVI.

Thanksgiving quotes get passed around the table and in the group chat, and a lot of them are mushy, shortened, or pinned to a Pilgrim who never wrote them. I wanted a list I could stand behind: 56 Thanksgiving quotes you can actually find in a proclamation, a poem, a hymn or the Bible, with the wording checked against a source, not a meme.

You’ll find Washington and Lincoln, a real 1621 harvest account from Mourt’s Relation, Psalm 100 and 1 Thessalonians 5, and a few lines that still work after the dishes are done. The point is not to collect everything ever said about gratitude. It’s to keep the lines that still mean something when you read them slowly. The ones about faith, family, the harvest, and the Christmas quotes you’ll want again in a few weeks.

Thanksgiving Quotes: The Day and the Harvest

1. “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week.” – Edward Winslow
Source: Mourt's Relation (A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth), 1621 harvest account, Project Gutenberg ebook 66359

2. “At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.” – Edward Winslow
Source: Mourt's Relation (A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth), 1621 harvest account, Project Gutenberg ebook 66359

3. “And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.” – Edward Winslow
Source: Mourt's Relation (A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth), 1621 harvest account, Project Gutenberg ebook 66359

4. “They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to prepare their houses for the winter, being well recovered in health and strength, and plentifully provisioned.” – William Bradford
Source: Of Plymouth Plantation, as printed in Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650, Project Gutenberg ebook 69871

5. “As well as wild fowl, they got abundance of wild turkeys, besides venison, etc. Each person had about a peck of meal a week, or now, since harvest, Indian corn in that proportion; and afterwards many wrote at length about their plenty to their friends in England, not feigned but true reports.” – William Bradford
Source: Of Plymouth Plantation, as printed in Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650, Project Gutenberg ebook 69871

6. “Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest home; All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin; God, our Maker, doth provide For our wants to be supplied; Come to God's own temple, come, Raise the song of harvest home.” – Henry Alford
Source: “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” 1844, Wikisource

Thanksgiving Quotes: Gratitude as a Practice

7. “The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.” – William Blake
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, “Proverbs of Hell,” Project Gutenberg ebook 45315

8. “O Lord, that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!” – William Shakespeare
Source: Henry VI, Part 2, Act 1, Scene 1, Project Gutenberg ebook 100

9. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy
Source: Proclamation 3560—Thanksgiving Day, 1963, The American Presidency Project

10. “This should be a day of giving as well as a day of thanks.” – Ronald Reagan
Source: Proclamation 4883—Thanksgiving Day, 1981, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

11. “In this spirit, Thanksgiving has become a day when Americans extend a helping hand to the less fortunate. Long before there was a government welfare program, this spirit of voluntary giving was ingrained in the American character. Americans have always understood that, truly, one must give in order to receive.” – Ronald Reagan
Source: Proclamation 4883—Thanksgiving Day, 1981, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

12. “For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies; Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint
Source: “For the Beauty of the Earth,” 1864, Wikisource

13. “You can’t be grateful and entitled at the same time.
You have to pick one.
Only one of them makes you happy.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

14. “Write down 3 things you’re thankful for every night.
That’s 1,095 reasons in a year.
It’s hard to stay bitter with that much evidence.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

15. “Gratitude works like a pair of glasses.
Your life doesn’t change when you put them on.
You just finally see what was already there.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Thanksgiving Quotes: Scripture and Giving Thanks

16. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18, King James Version
Source: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV, Bible Gateway

17. “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” – Psalm 100:4, King James Version
Source: Psalm 100:4 KJV, Bible Gateway

18. “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” – Psalm 100:1-2, King James Version
Source: Psalm 100:1-2 KJV, Bible Gateway

19. “O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” – Psalm 107:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 107:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

20. “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.” – Psalm 95:2, King James Version
Source: Psalm 95:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

21. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:” – Psalm 103:2, King James Version
Source: Psalm 103:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

22. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” – Philippians 4:6, King James Version
Source: Philippians 4:6 KJV, Bible Gateway

23. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” – Colossians 3:15, King James Version
Source: Colossians 3:15 KJV, Bible Gateway

24. “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” – Colossians 3:17, King James Version
Source: Colossians 3:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

25. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” – Ephesians 5:20, King James Version
Source: Ephesians 5:20 KJV, Bible Gateway

26. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” – James 1:17, King James Version
Source: James 1:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

27. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” – Hebrews 13:15, King James Version
Source: Hebrews 13:15 KJV, Bible Gateway

28. “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.” – Psalm 69:30, King James Version
Source: Psalm 69:30 KJV, Bible Gateway

29. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:” – Psalm 92:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 92:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

30. “O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.” – Psalm 105:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 105:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

31. “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;” – Colossians 4:2, King James Version
Source: Colossians 4:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

32. “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.” – Deuteronomy 8:10, King James Version
Source: Deuteronomy 8:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

33. “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” – Psalm 28:7, King James Version
Source: Psalm 28:7 KJV, Bible Gateway

34. “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.” – Psalm 116:17, King James Version
Source: Psalm 116:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

35. “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:” – 1 Timothy 4:4, King James Version
Source: 1 Timothy 4:4 KJV, Bible Gateway

36. “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.” – Luke 17:15-16, King James Version
Source: Luke 17:15-16 KJV, Bible Gateway

37. “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.” – Psalm 26:7, King James Version
Source: Psalm 26:7 KJV, Bible Gateway

38. “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” – Psalm 34:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 34:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

39. “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:” – Psalm 50:14, King James Version
Source: Psalm 50:14 KJV, Bible Gateway

40. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” – Psalm 68:19, King James Version
Source: Psalm 68:19 KJV, Bible Gateway

41. “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” – Psalm 107:8, King James Version
Source: Psalm 107:8 KJV, Bible Gateway

42. “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” – Jonah 2:9, King James Version
Source: Jonah 2:9 KJV, Bible Gateway

43. “Jesus gave thanks for five loaves and two fish before they multiplied.
Not after.
Thank God for what’s in your hands before it looks like enough.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Thanksgiving Quotes: Family, Home and the Table

44. “Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West, From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest, When the gray-haired New-Englander sees round his board The old broken links of affection restored, When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before, What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye? What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?” – John Greenleaf Whittier
Source: “The Pumpkin,” in The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Project Gutenberg ebook 9570

45. “For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth, and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild; Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint
Source: “For the Beauty of the Earth,” 1864, Wikisource

46. “For the wonder of each hour, Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light; Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint
Source: “For the Beauty of the Earth,” 1864, Wikisource

47. “Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done.” – William Shakespeare
Source: Henry VI, Part 2, Act 2, Scene 1, Project Gutenberg ebook 100

48. “The end goal is not the car. It is a table where your people are fed, a name your child is not ashamed of and a walk with God that stays steady when the money moves.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 4 Oct 2026, PT

49. “One day you’ll give anything for one more crowded Thanksgiving table.
The noise, the overcooked turkey, the uncle with opinions.
Sit at it like you know that now.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Thanksgiving Quotes: Presidents and Public Thanksgiving

50. “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” – George Washington
Source: Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789, The American Presidency Project

51. “I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation.” – George Washington
Source: Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789, The American Presidency Project

52. “I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons whomsoever, within the United States to set apart and observe Thursday, the 19th day of February next, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the Great Ruler of Nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation.” – George Washington
Source: Proclamation 6—Day of Public Thanksgiving, 1 January 1795, The American Presidency Project

53. “No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United States.” – James Madison
Source: Proclamation 20—Recommending a Day of Public Thanksgiving for Peace, 4 March 1815, The American Presidency Project

54. “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” – Abraham Lincoln
Source: Proclamation 106—Thanksgiving Day, 1863, The American Presidency Project

55. “I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” – Abraham Lincoln
Source: Proclamation 106—Thanksgiving Day, 1863, The American Presidency Project

56. “I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe.” – Abraham Lincoln
Source: Proclamation 118—Thanksgiving Day, 1864, The American Presidency Project

FAQ: Thanksgiving Quotes

What are the best Thanksgiving quotes?

The best ones are the lines you can actually source. This list keeps 56 of them, including Washington’s 1789 call to be grateful for God’s benefits, Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation, Edward Winslow’s 1621 harvest account, and 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In every thing give thanks.”

What is a famous Bible verse for Thanksgiving?

A verse people come back to every year is 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Psalm 100:4 is right beside it: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”

What did Abraham Lincoln say about Thanksgiving?

In his 1863 proclamation, Lincoln wrote that the country’s blessings “are the gracious gifts of the Most High God,” and he invited Americans “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise.” He repeated a last-Thursday observance in 1864.

Are the Pilgrim Thanksgiving quotes going around actually real?

Some are not. The short “William Bradford Thanksgiving Proclamation” dated 29 November 1623, with its “Pilgrim Rock” language, is a later fabrication, and it is not in this list. What you can source is Edward Winslow’s 1621 harvest account in Mourt’s Relation, and William Bradford’s history of the small harvest and the plenty that followed.

Christmas quotes get copied onto cards, captions and year-end posts, and a surprising number of them are fuzzy, shortened, or pinned to the wrong person. I wanted a list I could stand behind: 72 Christmas quotes you can actually find in a book, a speech, a poem or the Bible, with the wording checked against a source, not a meme.

You’ll find Dickens and the Grinch, Luke 2 and a 1927 message from Calvin Coolidge, family lines from Little Women, and a few poems that still work when the house finally goes quiet. The point is not to collect everything ever said about December. It’s to keep the lines that still mean something when you read them slowly. The ones about giving, gratitude, home and peace. That same thread runs through these Thanksgiving quotes on gratitude, faith, family and the harvest.

Christmas Quotes: The Meaning of the Season

1. “Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.” – Calvin Coolidge
Source: Presidential Christmas message, 25 Dec 1927, as printed in TIME, 2 Jan 1928; also Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation

2. “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave Four, Project Gutenberg ebook 46

3. “Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!” – Dr. Seuss
Source: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Random House, 1957); wording confirmed via Dartmouth's 2014 citation of the book

4. “It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.” – Henry van Dyke
Source: “Keeping Christmas,” in The Spirit of Christmas (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 14572

5. “Of all the old festivals, however, that of Christmas awakens the strongest and most heartfelt associations. There is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment.” – Washington Irving
Source: “Christmas,” in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., Project Gutenberg ebook 2048

6. “I have often thought, says Sir Roger, it happens very well that Christmas should fall in the Middle of winter.” – Joseph Addison
Source: The Spectator, January 1712, as cited on Wikiquote's Christmas page

7. “Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world… are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.” – Henry van Dyke
Source: “Keeping Christmas,” in The Spirit of Christmas (1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 14572

8. “And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave Five, Project Gutenberg ebook 46

9. “And what happened then…? Well…in Who-ville they say That the Grinch’s small heart Grew three sizes that day!” – Dr. Seuss
Source: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Random House, 1957)

10. “Christmas is more like a front door left open than a gift wrapped perfect. You don’t have to earn your way in. You just have to come home.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Christmas Quotes: Giving, Charity and an Open Hand

11. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business.” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave One (Marley's Ghost), Project Gutenberg ebook 46

12. “The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.” – O. Henry
Source: The Gift of the Magi (1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 7256

13. “Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.” – O. Henry
Source: The Gift of the Magi (1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 7256

14. “It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling—the season for kindling not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.” – Washington Irving
Source: “Christmas,” in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., Project Gutenberg ebook 2048

15. “I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave One (Fred, Scrooge's nephew), Project Gutenberg ebook 46

16. “I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave One (Marley's Ghost), Project Gutenberg ebook 46

17. “To own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life.” – Henry van Dyke
Source: “Keeping Christmas,” in The Spirit of Christmas (1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 14572

18. “And if you keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone.” – Henry van Dyke
Source: “Keeping Christmas,” in The Spirit of Christmas (1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 14572

19. “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” – Matthew 2:11, King James Version
Source: Matthew 2:11 KJV, Bible Gateway

20. “What can I give Him, / Poor as I am? / If I were a shepherd / I would bring a lamb, / If I were a wise man / I would do my part,— / Yet what I can I give Him, / Give my heart.” – Christina Rossetti
Source: “A Christmas Carol” (often called “In the Bleak Midwinter”), last stanza; Project Gutenberg Poems and Wikisource (poem published 1872)

21. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” – 2 Corinthians 9:15, King James Version
Source: 2 Corinthians 9:15 KJV, Bible Gateway

22. “Before you spend $300 on gifts to prove you care, call the person who has been quiet since last Christmas. That call might be the only gift they remember.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Christmas Quotes: Home, Family and Children

23. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” – Louisa May Alcott
Source: Little Women, Chapter 1, spoken by Jo, Project Gutenberg ebook 514

24. “We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other.” – Louisa May Alcott
Source: Little Women, Chapter 1, spoken by Beth, Project Gutenberg ebook 514

25. “For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave Three, Project Gutenberg ebook 46

26. “God bless us every one!” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave Three, Tiny Tim, Project Gutenberg ebook 46

27. “This festival, which commemorates the announcement of the religion of peace and love, has been made the season for gathering together of family connections, and drawing closer again those bands of kindred hearts which the cares and pleasures and sorrows of the world are continually operating to cast loose.” – Washington Irving
Source: “Christmas,” in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., Project Gutenberg ebook 2048

28. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.” – Francis Pharcellus Church
Source: “Is There a Santa Claus?”, The New York Sun, 21 September 1897, as transcribed on Wikiquote

29. “Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.” – Francis Pharcellus Church
Source: “Is There a Santa Claus?”, The New York Sun, 21 September 1897, Wikiquote transcription

30. “No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.” – Francis Pharcellus Church
Source: “Is There a Santa Claus?”, The New York Sun, 21 September 1897, Wikiquote transcription

31. “’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring,—not even a mouse: / The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, / In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.” – Clement Clarke Moore (traditional attribution)
Source: A Visit from St. Nicholas (first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel, 23 Dec 1823); text as on Wikiquote / Moore's page

32. “But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight — / Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” – Clement Clarke Moore (traditional attribution)
Source: A Visit from St. Nicholas, closing couplet, Wikiquote / Moore

33. “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” – Luke 2:19, King James Version
Source: Luke 2:19 KJV, Bible Gateway

34. “I’m sorry to tell you but a perfect Christmas table won’t fix a family that doesn’t talk the other 364 days.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

35. “Years from now, nobody will remember what you bought them. They’ll remember if you were laughing, present, and not checking your email at the table.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Christmas Quotes: Scripture and the Nativity

36. “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” – Luke 2:7, King James Version
Source: Luke 2:7 KJV, Bible Gateway

37. “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” – Luke 2:10, King James Version
Source: Luke 2:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

38. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” – Luke 2:11, King James Version
Source: Luke 2:11 KJV, Bible Gateway

39. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” – Luke 2:14, King James Version
Source: Luke 2:14 KJV, Bible Gateway

40. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 9:6 KJV, Bible Gateway

41. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14, King James Version
Source: John 1:14 KJV, Bible Gateway

42. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21, King James Version
Source: Matthew 1:21 KJV, Bible Gateway

43. “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” – Matthew 2:10, King James Version
Source: Matthew 2:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

44. “Hark! the herald angels sing, / Glory to the newborn King; / Peace on earth, and mercy mild, / God and sinners reconciled!” – Charles Wesley
Source: Hymn 'Hark! How All the Welkin Rings' (1739), in the later commonly sung wording noted by Wikiquote

45. “Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world—stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death—and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.” – Henry van Dyke
Source: “Keeping Christmas,” in The Spirit of Christmas (1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 14572

46. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” – Matthew 1:23, King James Version
Source: Matthew 1:23 KJV, Bible Gateway

47. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” – Isaiah 7:14, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 7:14 KJV, Bible Gateway

48. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16, King James Version
Source: John 3:16 KJV, Bible Gateway

49. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” – Galatians 4:4-5, King James Version
Source: Galatians 4:4-5 KJV, Bible Gateway

50. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” – Micah 5:2, King James Version
Source: Micah 5:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

51. “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” – Luke 1:31-33, King James Version
Source: Luke 1:31-33 KJV, Bible Gateway

Christmas Quotes: Peace, Joy and the Year’s End

When the noise drops, a lot of these lines turn toward peace, not as a caption, but as something you hope still holds after the year you just had.

52. “I heard the bells on Christmas Day / Their old, familiar carols play, / And wild and sweet / The words repeat / Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “Christmas Bells,” in The Complete Poetical Works, Project Gutenberg ebook 1365

53. “And in despair I bowed my head; / “There is no peace on earth,” I said: / “For hate is strong, / And mocks the song / Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” / Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: / “God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! / The Wrong shall fail, / The Right prevail, / With peace on earth, good-will to men!”” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “Christmas Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 1365

54. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world.” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave Five (Scrooge, Christmas morning), Project Gutenberg ebook 46

55. “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour.” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave Three, Project Gutenberg ebook 46

56. “At Christmas play, and make good cheer, / For Christmas comes but once a year.” – Thomas Tusser
Source: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, as cited on Wikiquote's Christmas page

57. “England was merry England, when / Old Christmas brought his sports again. / ‘Twas Christmas broach’d the mightiest ale; / ‘Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; / A Christmas gambol oft could cheer / The poor man’s heart through half the year.” – Walter Scott
Source: Marmion (1808), Canto VI, Introduction, as cited on Wikiquote's Christmas page

58. “The time draws near the birth of Christ: / The moon is hid; the night is still; / The Christmas bells from hill to hill / Answer each other in the mist.” – Alfred Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H. (1849), section XXVIII, as cited on Wikiquote's Christmas page

59. “At Christmas I no more desire a rose, / Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth.” – William Shakespeare
Source: Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1595–96), Act I, scene 1, as cited on Wikiquote's Christmas page

60. “A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!” – Charles Dickens
Source: A Christmas Carol, Stave Three, Bob Cratchit, Project Gutenberg ebook 46

61. “Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough… are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.” – Henry van Dyke
Source: “Keeping Christmas,” in The Spirit of Christmas (1905), Project Gutenberg ebook 14572

62. “Joy to the world! the Lord is come; / Let earth receive her King. / Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room, / And heav’n and nature sing.” – Isaac Watts
Source: “Joy to the World,” stanza 1, based on Psalm 98 (1719), as given on Wikiquote

Christmas Quotes About Faith: The Incarnation and the Carols

The older carols and the theologians keep returning to the same claim: Christmas is not only a mood. It is the claim that God came near.

63. “O little town of Bethlehem, / How still we see thee lie! / Above thy deep and dreamless sleep / The silent stars go by; / Yet in thy dark streets shineth / The everlasting Light; / The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee to-night.” – Phillips Brooks
Source: “O Little Town of Bethlehem” (1868), first stanza, as given on Wikiquote (Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed., 1919)

64. “In the bleak mid-winter / Frosty wind made moan, / Earth stood hard as iron, / Water like a stone; / Snow had fallen, snow on snow, / Snow on snow, / In the bleak mid-winter / Long ago.” – Christina Rossetti
Source: “A Christmas Carol” (often called “In the Bleak Midwinter”), first stanza, published 1872; Project Gutenberg Poems and Wikisource

65. “Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him / Nor earth sustain; / Heaven and earth shall flee away / When He comes to reign: / In the bleak mid-winter / A stable-place sufficed / The Lord God Almighty / Jesus Christ.” – Christina Rossetti
Source: “A Christmas Carol” (often called “In the Bleak Midwinter”), second stanza, published 1872; Project Gutenberg Poems

66. “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! / Hail the Sun of Righteousness!” – Charles Wesley
Source: “Hymn for Christmas-Day” (1739), in the later familiar wording noted on Wikiquote

67. “He rules the world with truth and grace, / And makes the nations prove / The glories of His righteousness, / And wonders of His love.” – Isaac Watts
Source: “Joy to the World,” stanza 4 (1719), as given on Wikiquote

68. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” – Philippians 2:5-8, King James Version
Source: Philippians 2:5-8 KJV, Bible Gateway

69. “Christianity does not involve the belief that all things were made for man. It does involve the belief that God loves man and for his sake became man and died.” – C. S. Lewis
Source: Miracles (1947), Chapter 7, “A Chapter of Red Herrings,” as given on Wikiquote

70. “I accept this supposed missing chapter, the Incarnation, I find it begins to illuminate the whole of the rest of the manuscript. It lights up Nature’s pattern of death and rebirth; and, secondly, her selectiveness; and, thirdly, her vicariousness.” – C. S. Lewis
Source: “The Grand Miracle,” in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics (Eerdmans, 1970), pp. 81, 86, as given on Wikiquote

71. “For He was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality.” – Athanasius of Alexandria
Source: On the Incarnation (De Incarnatione) 54.3, NPNF translation at New Advent

72. “Let us not flutter too high, but remain by the manger and the swaddling clothes of Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” – Martin Luther
Source: Table Talk (Tischreden, 1569), no. 50, as given on Wikiquote; the closing clause echoes Colossians 2:9

FAQ: Christmas Quotes

What are the best Christmas quotes?

The best Christmas quotes are the ones you can source. This list keeps 72 verified lines, including Dickens on keeping Christmas all year, Coolidge’s 1927 message that Christmas is a state of mind, the Grinch on Christmas meaning “a little bit more,” and the Nativity verses in Luke 2.

What is a famous Bible verse for Christmas?

The verses people return to most are in Luke 2. In the King James Version, Luke 2:11 reads, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” and Luke 2:14 reads, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Isaiah 9:6 and John 1:14 are often read alongside them.

What is a good Christmas quote about giving?

Marley’s Ghost in A Christmas Carol says, “Mankind was my business.” O. Henry, at the end of The Gift of the Magi, writes that the magi “invented the art of giving Christmas presents,” and that the two who gave everything for each other “are the magi.” Henry van Dyke puts it more bluntly: you can never keep Christmas alone.

What are some Christmas quotes about the birth of Jesus besides the Bible?

Beside the Nativity verses, this list keeps public-domain carols such as Isaac Watts’s “Joy to the World” (1719), Phillips Brooks’s “O Little Town of Bethlehem” (1868), and Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter” (1872), along with sourced lines from C. S. Lewis, Athanasius, and Martin Luther on the Incarnation.