100 Wonderful and Wholesome Quotes to Warm You this Winter

Jared Jeric dela Cruz

When I was a child, being, after all, born and raised in a tropical country, winter to me then was no more – or less – than a rumor borne out of stories from faraway; a thing of wonder, unfathomable, beyond comprehension of my small child-mind; a fantasy beyond the reach of even my wildest imaginings. I knew of it solely from the pages of books and novels, and from these were graven on my mind images of snowflakes and snowfalls; of flurries and blizzards and winter storms; of pines laden with snow, surprisingly green and full of leaves amidst barren and naked trees; and of cold landscapes all mantled in white, on the edge of which marched lofty mountains also clad and crowned in white. And though these mental images became clearer and sharper as I grew up and learned more of winter, still such a season – or rather a spectacle – remained to me as foreign as extra-terrestrial aliens, or a non-corrupt government or a high-trust society.

But in the late 2018, I finally had my first – and thus far, my only – chance to experience winter. It was during a two-week family trip to Japan, of which a day and a night was spent in the city of Sapporo, and two days and two nights in Japan’s most famed ski resort town of Niseko, both of which are in the northerly island of Hokkaido. It was only November then, and most of Japan was still wearing the bright colors and full splendor of autumn. But in Sapporo and even more so in Niseko, and indeed in most of Hokkaido, winter had already come, and already it was working its magic in the countryside; the snows were already falling, and they were falling fast and falling free.

It was but a fleeting moment, but it has been to this day a highlight of my life. In that brief span of time, I had the rare chance to see what I had hitherto only thought of as a dream beyond my reach, to live an experience I had never thought possible. Even now I could still remember that moment I first saw and touched snow, and finally found out for myself, and for a fact, that it was, after all, a real thing, and not merely a fantasy existing solely on the pages of books. It was very white and very cold, and very fine (though of course, Niseko’s snows are apparently among the finest and most famed worldwide). And it was everywhere – on the rooftops and on the awnings, over the cars and over the roads, on the trees and on the grass, on the hills and on the mountains, over everything, really. It fell from the sky, at times in gentle and almost lazy showers, and then in stronger and surer precipitations. I first tasted snow in Sapporo, but it was in Niseko that I had my fill. And it was in Niseko that my family and I made our first snow angels, built our first snowman, had our first snowball fights, rode our first sled rides, and frisked and frolicked to our heart’s content in a veritable winter wonderland (it wasn’t yet the ski season, so skiing was not available).

Oh, winter. It was everything I’ve ever dreamt of, and more. In fact, it exceeded my wildest thoughts. When I was a child, I held winter as a thing of wonder; my first sight and touch of snow confirmed exactly just that. And out of that first sight and touch, that fleeting moment, was kindled a lifelong love and desire for winter. Since then, I had promised myself that I would eventually go to where winter is, and perhaps there, amidst the snows, spend the rest of my lifetime.

I know winter is a magical moment for all of us, whether you know of it solely through books and films, or you experience it, breathe it, live it year by year. And to welcome the forthcoming season of snow, I’ve compiled one hundred of the most wonderful and wholesome winter quotes, uttered or written by famed authors, poets, and other remarkable people.

For those of you who live in countries graced annually by winter, may these quotes warm you in the cold days ahead, and should the season turn unbearably cold and dreary, will you through until the coming of spring.

And for those of you who have never experienced winter, may these quotes impart to you an image of the marvel and miracle of the season of snow, and continue to inspire you until the moment you experience – for real – the magic of softly falling snow and white, wintry landscapes.

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“A man says a lot of things in summer he doesn’t mean in winter.” – Patricia Briggs

“A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky – unbidden – and seems like a thing of wonder.” – Susan Orlean

“A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.” – Markus Zusak

“As winter approaches – bringing cold weather and family drama – we crave page-turners, books made for long nights and tryptophan-induced sloth.” – Sarah McLean

“Blow, blow, thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude.” – William Shakespeare

“December’s wintery breath is already clouding the pond, frosting the pane, obscuring summer’s memory…” – John Geddes

“Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow.” – Edmund Hillary

“Even in winter an isolated patch of snow has a special quality.” – Andy Goldworthy

“Every mile is two in winter.” – George Herbert

“Every winter has its spring.” – H. Tuttle

“Fiction writers have long turned to winter to advance bluer palettes, slicker surfaces, and sharper contrasts. The sky darkens, the wind picks up, and flakes start to fall. Horizons shrink. Couples bicker. Cars slide off roads. Obliteration tends to loiter between the sentences.” – Anthony Doerr

“He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.” – John Burroughs

“’Hear! hear!’ screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, ‘winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it.’” – Henry David Thoreau

“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!” – Thomas Wentworth Higginson

“I have come to regard November as the older, harder man’s October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer’s death as winter tightens its grip.” – Henry Rollins

“I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.” – Bill Watterson

“I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas. It brings people together while time stands still.” – Rachel Cohn

“I love the scents of winter! For me, it’s all about the feeling you get when you smell pumpkin spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread and spruce.” – Taylor Swift

“I pray this winter be gentle and kind – a season of rest from the wheel of the mind.” – John Geddes

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.” – Andrew Wyeth

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’” – Lewis Carroll

“I write probably 80 percent of my stuff over the winter.” – Bob Seger

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me, there lay, an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” – Anne Bradstreet

“If winter helps you curl up and more that makes it one of the best of the seasons.” – Murray Pura

“In a way Winter is the real Spring – the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature.” – Edna O’Brien

“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” – William Blake

“In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.” – Ben Aaronovitch

“In winter, I plot and plan. In spring, I move.” – Henry Rollins

“In winter, the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity.” – John Burroughs

“It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.” – John Burroughs

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” – Charles Dickens

“January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow.” – Sara Coleridge

“Kindness is like snow – it beautifies everything it covers.” – Kahlil Gibran

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” – Victor Hugo

“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.” – Pietro Aretino

“Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it.” – Richard Adams

“My old grandmother always used to say, summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.” – George R. R. Martin

“Nature looks dead in winter because her life is gathered into her heart. She withers the plant down to the root that she may grow it up again fairer and stronger. She calls her family together within her inmost home to prepare them for being scattered abroad upon the face of the earth.” – Hugh Macmillan

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” – Hal Borland

“Nothing burns like the cold.” – George R. R. Martin

“Nothing is as easy to make as a promise this winter to do something next summer; this is how commencement speakers are caught.” – Sydney J. Harris

“Now is the winter of our discontent.” – William Shakespeare

“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” – Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Of all the seasons, winter is the most conducive to the great art of dormancy. This art requires an appreciation of semi-consciousness: the beautiful and necessary prelude to sleep – a special pleasure in itself that is all too often neglected, under-valued or looked down upon.” – Michael Leunig

“One kind word can warm three winter months.” – Japanese proverb

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.” – Anton Chekhov

“Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem.” – William Hamilton Gibson

“Snow brings a special quality with it — the power to stop life as you know it dead in its tracks.” – Nancy Hatch Woodward

“Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night will always fill my heart with sweet clarity.” – Novala Takemoto

“Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people’s legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.” – Sarah Addison Allen

“Snow isn’t just pretty. It also cleanses our world and our senses, not just of the soot and grime of a mining town, but also of a kind of weary familiarity, a taken-for-granted quality to which our eyes are all too susceptible.” – John Burnside

“Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood.” – Andy Goldsworthy

“Spring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition.” – Mignon McLaughlin

“Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder – no matter how old you became and how much you’d seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered.” – Candace Bushnell

“That’s why you can’t be a true Yankee without winter: because all the best pleasures are earned – the fire, the fried oysters; the warmer seasons, too. Who knows the real worth of summer at the beach without a good taste of the seaside in winter?” – Julia Glass

“The color of springtime is flowers; the color of winter is in our imagination.” – Terri Guillemets

“The country is more of a wilderness, more of a wild solitude, in the winter than in the summer. The wild comes out. The urban, the cultivated, is hidden or negatived.” – John Burroughs

“The fire is winter’s fruit.” – Arabian proverb

“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different.” – J. B. Priestley

“The first snow is like the first love. Do you remember your first snow?” – Lara Biyuts

“The hard soil and four months of snow make the inhabitants of the northern temperate zone wiser and abler than his fellow who enjoys the fixed smile of the tropics.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The pine stays green in winter… wisdom in hardship.” – Norman Douglas

“The problem with winter sports is that – follow me closely here – they generally take place in winter.” – Dave Barry

“The snow is sparkling like a million little suns.” – Lama Willa

“The tendinous part of the mind, so to speak, is more developed in winter; the fleshy, in summer. I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood.” – John Burroughs

“The very fact of snow is such an amazement.” – Roger Ebert

“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.” – Gary Zukav

“There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can’t think what to do with the long winter evenings.” – Quentin Crisp

“There are two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter.” – Billy Connolly

“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you… In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.” – Ruth Stout

“There’s just something beautiful about walking on snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you’re special.” – Carol Rifka Brunt

“There is no winter without snow, no spring without sunshine, and no happiness without companions.” – Korean proverb

“There’s nothing better than curling up with a good book and sitting in front of the fire on winter evenings.” – Leo Sayer

“They who sing through the summer must dance in the winter.” – Italian proverb

“To many forms of life of our northern lands, winter means a long sleep; to others, it means what it means to many fortunate human beings – travels in warm climes. To still others, who again have their human prototypes, it means a struggle, more or less fierce, to keep soul and body together; while to many insect forms, it means death.” – John Burroughs

“To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring.” – W. J. Vogel

“We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives.” – Gary Zukav

“We need society, and we need solitude also, as we need summer and winter, day and night, exercise and rest.” – Philip Gilbert Hamerton

“Welcome, winter. Your late dawns and chilled breath make me lazy, but I love you nonetheless.” – Terri Guillemets

“Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person.” – Sylvia Plath

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” – John Steinbeck

“When I was young, I loved summer and hated winter. When I got older I loved winter and hated summer. Now that I’m even older, and wiser, I hate both summer and winter.” – Jarod Kintz

“When snow falls, nature listens.” – Antoinette Van Kleef

“While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best.” – Tom Allen

“Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.” – John Boswell

“Winter blues are cured every time with a potato gratin paired with a roast chicken.” – Alexandra Guarnaschelli

“Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.” – Paul Theroux

“Winter is nature’s way of saying, ‘Up yours.’” – Robert Byrne

“Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.” – Anamika Mishra

“Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.” – Sinclair Lewis

“Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” – Victor Hugo

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” – Edith Sitwell

“Winter is the time of promise because there is so little to do – or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so.” – Stanley Crawford