Cold and dreary or snowy and cheery, winter is a season sure to spark passion. It transforms mountains into majestic vistas, makes summer all the sweeter, and gives those living in normally temperate locales an excuse to don a jacket. Throughout history, winter has also inspired a host of memorable quotes that capture the essence of the season, captivate the imagination, and inspire a deep appreciation for its unique, exquisite beauty.
In the spirit of the wintertime, we’ve searched high and low for the most interesting, impactful, and recognizable quotes about the season. From famous authors to age-old proverbs, the sources are as diverse as the structures of the snowflakes gracing those classic winter wonderlands.
So, grab a cup of cocoa and read these winter quotes that are sure to give your body chills (the good kind!) and your heart a merry bit of warmth.
With winter comes spring
- “O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” – Percy Bysshe Shelley
- “Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” – Victor Hugo
- “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” – Hal Borland
- “Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.” – Pietro Aretino
- “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
- “Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.” – Yoko Ono
Finding warmth in the cold
- “Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside.” – Thomas De Quincey
- “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” – John Steinbeck
- “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
- “In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus
- “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” – William Blake
- “One kind word can warm three winter months.” – Japanese proverb
The silver lining of the season
- “While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best.” – Tim Allen
- “How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!” – Thomas Wentworth Higginson
- “Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.” – George R.R. Martin
- “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
The renewal of winter
- “Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “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
- “It seems like everything sleeps in winter, but it’s really a time of renewal and reflection.” – Elizabeth Camden
- “The rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth.” – The Bible
- “What miracle of weird transforming is this wild work of frost and light, this glimpse of glory infinite?” – John Greenleaf Whittier
- “That’s what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again.” – Ali Smith
- “Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.” – Paul Theroux
Best winter gift ideas
The winter landscape and its wonder
- “I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn’t show.” – Andrew Wyeth
- “Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood.” – Andy Goldsworthy
- “The pine stays green in winter… wisdom in hardship.” – Norman Douglas
- “In winter we behold the charms of solemn majesty and naked grandeur.” – James Ellis
- “To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” – Aristotle
- “Snow was falling, so much like stars filling the dark trees that one could easily imagine its reason for being was nothing more than prettiness.” – Mary Oliver
- “He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.” – John Burroughs
- “Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person.” – Sylvia Plath
- “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
- “Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night will always fill my heart with sweet clarity.” – Novala Takemoto
- “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
The joy of the season
- “They who sing through the summer must dance in the winter.” – Italian proverb
- “It’s the most wonderful time of the year! There’ll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow.” – Andy Williams
- “You can’t get too much winter in the winter.” – Robert Frost
- “People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.” – Anton Chekhov
- “Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.” – Anamika Mishra
- “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” – Victor Hugo
- “Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.” – John Boswell
