The end of the year always brings with it a wide swath of emotions, from exhaustion to nostalgia, anxiety to hope. It’s a time to regroup, settle in, and think about what has come to pass, and what’s on the horizon too.
Beyond New Year’s Eve traditions such as throwing parties, counting down while watching the ball drop in Times Square, or having a delicious meal with loved ones, many folks also use this time to set intentions for the coming months. New Year’s resolutions provide a chance to look inward and glean insights from the past, and it’s an ideal time to meditate on the words and wisdom of others to help start the new year right.
The following 12 quotes are meant to help you find whatever it is you’re looking for as the clock strikes midnight on December 31, whether it’s motivation or hope, tranquility or laughter. Read on to see what history’s great minds and today’s inspiring voices have to say about the promise of another year.
Celebrate endings — for they precede new beginnings.
Jonathan Lockwood Huie, author
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
Kindness, kindness, kindness. I want to make a new year’s prayer, not a resolution. I’m praying for courage.
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
We spend January 1st 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.
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.
What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.
Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.
Featured Image Credit: Rock Staar/ Unsplash
Joyce Chen
Joyce Chen is a writer, editor, and community builder based in Seattle, Washington.
