— Author unknown
“Every man should be born again on the first day 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 no interest in the things that were and are past.”
— Henry Ward Beecher, 19th-century American social reformer
“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.”
— Hal Borland, American writer
“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.”
— John Burroughs, American naturalist and essayist
“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. 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. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards. Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
— G.K. Chesterton, English writer
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”
— Benjamin Franklin, American founding father
“New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.”
— Charles Lamb, English essayist
“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.”
— Helen Keller, American author and political activist
“Let our New Year’s resolution be this: We will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.”
— Goran Persson, former prime minister of Sweden
“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.”
— Edith Lovejoy Pierce, poet
“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!”
— Edward Payson Powell, author
“Turn the clock to zero, boss
“The river’s wide, we’ll swim across
“We’re starting up a brand new day.”
— Sting, British singer and songwriter
“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.”
— Mark Twain, American author and humorist