Passions & Pastimes April Eileen Passions & Pastimes April Eileen

Quotes from the Classics: December

Happy Holidays to you and welcome, Winter! ‘Tis the season of cozy so raise a cup of hot cocoa to sweaters, crackling fires, warm blankets, and snuggles with the ones you Love most. Whatever your traditions and celebrations, I hope your season is full of Love and Light and all that is truly important. Check out the quotes below for inspiration as you navigate seasonal endings and the inevitable beginnings they bring.

Happy Holidays to you and welcome, Winter! ‘Tis the season of cozy so raise a cup of hot cocoa to sweaters, crackling fires, warm blankets, and snuggles with the ones you Love most. Whatever your traditions and celebrations, I hope your season is full of Love and Light and all that is truly important. Check out the quotes below for inspiration as you navigate seasonal endings and the inevitable beginnings they bring.

Winter mug, marshmallows, and twinkle lights by Ylanite Koppens

 
Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
— Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
 

 
The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.
— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
 

 
I could leave the world with today in my eyes.
— Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory
 

 
Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more.
— Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
 

 
Kindness is like snow; it beautifies everything it covers.
— Kahlil Gibran
 

 
To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.
— Aristotle
 

 
You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.
— Maya Angelou
 

 
Wisdom comes with winters.
— Oscar Wilde
 

 
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.
— Albert Camus, The Stranger
 

Love in all things,

April Eileen

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Quotes from the Classics: February

Love is in the air! Let’s kick off Love Month with some classic quotes about affection, intimacy, and endearment. Included are beautiful words by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, in celebration and recognition of both love and black history and culture.

Love is in the air! Let’s kick off Love Month with some classic quotes about affection, intimacy, and endearment. Included are beautiful words by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, in celebration and recognition of both love and black history and culture.

Red rose by Jamie Street

 
To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.
— Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
 

 
He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed like a flower and the incarnation was complete.
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
 

 
And what is a kiss, specifically? A pledge properly sealed, a promise seasoned to taste, a vow stamped with the immediacy of a lip, a rosy circle drawn around the verb ‘to love.’ A kiss is a message too intimate for the ear, infinity captured in the bee’s brief visit to a flower, secular communication with an aftertaste of heaven, the pulse rising from the heart to utter its name on a lover’s lip: ‘Forever.
— Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac
 

 
Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet
 

 
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
— Kahlil Gibran, On Love
 

 
Come when the nights are bright with stars

Or come when the moon is mellow;

Come when the sun his golden bars

Drops on the hay-field yellow.

Come in the twilight soft and gray,

Come in the night or come in the day,

Come, O love, whene’er you may,

And you are welcome, welcome.
— Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Invitation to Love
 

Love in all things,

April Eileen

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my other V-day posts - Valentine’s Day: Away from B.S. and Back to Basics and What’s Lovely on Valentine’s Day - for more love!

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Passions & Pastimes April Eileen Passions & Pastimes April Eileen

Quotes from the Classics: January

There's something about classic literature - timeless, romantic, universal, human. Each month, I will post quotes from the likes of Austen, Wilde, Dickens, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald and many others. Here are some words that will inspire you as you kick off the new year!

There's something about classic literature - timeless, romantic, universal, human. Each month, I will post quotes from the likes of Austen, Wilde, Dickens, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald and many others. Here are some words that will inspire you as you kick off the new year!

Champagne, ornaments, and sparkler by Ioana Motoc

 
Every man is tasked to make his life, even in details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
 

 
It had to be found, the pristine source in one’s own self, it had to be possessed! Everything else was searching, was a detour, was getting lost.
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
 

 
And what is it to work with love? ...It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit.
— Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
 

 
And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
— Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince
 

 
Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
— Rumi
 

Love in all things,

April Eileen

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