19 Inspirational New Year's Quotes for a Fresh Start to Your Year

By Real Simple Editors Updated November 01, 2021

Credit: Getty Images

Come New Year's Eve, we're all looking for a little inspiration for the year ahead. These motivational, serious, and funny New Year's quotes or caption ideas from celebrities, beloved fictional characters, and other notables might have the power to give us a sunnier outlook for the brand new year.

New Year's quotes, on the other hand, are all about celebrating after the New Year's Eve holiday: They're about making the most of a new year, and all the new years to come, with or without New Year's resolutions. Pick your favorite inspirational New Year's quote, and start the year with a fresh attitude.

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"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Brad Paisley

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"In our perfect ways. In the ways we are beautiful. In the ways we are human. We are here. Happy New Year's. Let's make it ours."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Beyoncé

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"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– C.S. Lewis

4 of 19

"To the old, long life and treasure; to the young, all health and pleasure."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Ben Jonson

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"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Benjamin Franklin

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"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'It will be happier.'"

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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"We spend January 1 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."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Ellen Goodman

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"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."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Edith Lovejoy Pierce

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"You'll never get bored when you try something new. There's really no limit to what you can do."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Dr. Seuss

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"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Martin Luther King Jr.

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"Hey friend, don't you dare forget, as you're creating a new you, that there's a whole lot about the old you that is worth keeping."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Toni Sorenson

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"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Maya Angelou

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"New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– James Agate

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"I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary

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"May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Joey Adams

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"Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Mark Twain

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"Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Oscar Wilde

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"There comes a day when you realize turning the page is the best feeling in the world, because you realize there is so much more to the book than the page you were stuck on."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Zayn Malik

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"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to."

Credit: Ana Celaya

– Bill Vaughan

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19 Inspirational New Year's Quotes for a Fresh Start to Your Year

1 of 19

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one."

1 of 19

2 of 19

"In our perfect ways. In the ways we are beautiful. In the ways we are human. We are here. Happy New Year's. Let's make it ours."

2 of 19

3 of 19

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

3 of 19

4 of 19

"To the old, long life and treasure; to the young, all health and pleasure."

4 of 19

5 of 19

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

5 of 19

6 of 19

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'It will be happier.'"

6 of 19

7 of 19

"We spend January 1 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."

7 of 19

8 of 19

"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."

8 of 19

9 of 19

"You'll never get bored when you try something new. There's really no limit to what you can do."

9 of 19

10 of 19

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

10 of 19

11 of 19

"Hey friend, don't you dare forget, as you're creating a new you, that there's a whole lot about the old you that is worth keeping."

11 of 19

12 of 19

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."

12 of 19

13 of 19

"New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time."

13 of 19

14 of 19

"I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second."

14 of 19

15 of 19

"May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions."

15 of 19

16 of 19

"Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."

16 of 19

17 of 19

"Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account."

17 of 19

18 of 19

"There comes a day when you realize turning the page is the best feeling in the world, because you realize there is so much more to the book than the page you were stuck on."

18 of 19

19 of 19

"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to."

19 of 19

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