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Christmas Quotes

Most of the quotes on this page are not about Christmas at all. We built it from the pages on family, love and gratitude, which is what people tend to want for a card or a toast.

That makes it a long list, ordered by quality rather than by how seasonal each entry feels. If you want something that sounds like Christmas, search for it. If you want something that would be true at any family table, start here.

Random quote on Christmas

Most quoted on christmas:

To Chloe's breast young Cupid slily stole,
But he crept in at Myra's pocket-hole.

William Blake

So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The growth of one blesses all. I am commited to grow in love. All that I touch, I leave in love. I move through this world consciously and creatively.

Julia Cameron

We must never say, even in fun, that we are disheartened, because someone might take us at our word.

Cesare Pavese This Business of Living (1935)

One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving

Amy Carmichael

What have I done? What horrid crime committed?
To me the worst of crimes—outliv'd my liking.

Colley Cibber Richard III (1700)

Give me love, give me peace on earth,
Give me light, give me life, keep me free from birth,
Give me hope, help me cope, with this heavy load,
Trying to, touch and reach you with, heart and soul.

George Harrison

The heart of a man to the heart of a maid—
Light of my tents, be fleet—
Morning awaits at the end of the world,
And the world is all at our feet.

Rudyard Kipling The Gypsy Trail (1892)

I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

Johnny Marr

Much ado there was, God wot;
He woold love, and she woold not,
She sayd, "Never man was trewe;"
He sayes, "None was false to you."

Nicholas Breton

Unless you can feel when the song is done
No other is sweet in its rhythm;
Unless you can feel when left by one
That all men else go with him.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Give, you gods,
Give to your boy, your Cæsar,
The rattle of a globe to play withal,
This gewgaw world, and put him cheaply off;
I'll not be pleased with less than Cleopatra.

John Dryden

Love, Love, my Love.
The best things are the truest!
When the earth lies shadowy dark below
Oh, then the heavens are bluest!

Richard Watson Gilder

Thus let me hold thee to my heart,
And every care resign:
And we shall never, never part,
My life—my all that's mine!

Oliver Goldsmith

Soft is the breath of a maiden's Yes:
Not the light gossamer stirs with less;
But never a cable that holds so fast
Through all the battles of wave and blast.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

If you become a Nun, dear,
The bishop Love will be;
The Cupids every one, dear!
Will chant—'We trust in thee!'

Leigh Hunt

Sing, for faith and hope are high—
None so true as you and I—
Sing the Lovers' Litany:
"Love like ours can never die!"

Rudyard Kipling

Yes, loving is a painful thrill,
And not to love more painful still;
But oh, it is the worst of pain,
To love and not be lov'd again.

Thomas Moore

Duty's a slave that keeps the keys,
But Love, the master goes in and out
Of his goodly chambers with song and shout,
Just as he please—just as he please.

Dinah Craik

I loved you, and my love had no return,
And therefore my true love has been my death.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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