Pithy and Inspirational New Year's Quotes

Whether the approaching New Year motivates you to party hearty or to spend a quiet evening at home, it's a pretty safe bet that the turn of the calendar will find you reflecting on the past and planning for the future. Each year, January 1 wipes clean the dirt and grime of yesterday and presents the promise of a shiny new tomorrow. This exciting prospect has provoked memorable and inspiring quotes from famous figures through the ages. Here are some gems to stoke your own New Year's reverie.

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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

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

New Year's Day is every man's birthday.
Charles Lamb

Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty.
John Selden

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.
Ellen Goodman

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

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

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
Bill Vaughan

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.
Abraham Lincoln

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Enjoy the New Year, and may the promise it holds inspire you to your own memorable quotes!