New Year's quotes about resolutions are lines for a goal list, a journal page or a card on January 1. This list has 50. They come from writers and teachers such as Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Maya Angelou and James Clear.
The list starts with classic lines about resolutions, some of them skeptical. Then come quotes about starting, building habits, changing your mindset and keeping goals kind. New Year's Day 2027 falls on Friday, January 1.
Quick picks: for a goal list, use Jim Rohn on discipline. For a journal, use the Ellen Goodman line about the rooms of our lives. For a laugh, use Joey Adams.
Classic New Year's resolution quotes
- "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other." (Abraham Lincoln)
- "Let our New Year's resolution be this: We will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word." (Göran Persson)
- "Good resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account." (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)
- "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)
- "He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; he who makes one is a fool." (F.M. Knowles, A Cheerful Year Book)
- "One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things." (John Burroughs)
- "Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed." (Cavett Robert)
- "I make no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me." (Anaïs Nin)
- "How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them." (Benjamin Franklin)
- "May your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions." (Joey Adams)
- "Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man." (Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1755)
- "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)
New Year's resolution quotes about getting started
- "A year from now you may wish you had started today." (Karen Lamb)
- "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." (Mark Twain)
- "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." (Martin Luther King Jr.)
- "Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned." (Peter Marshall)
- "Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon." (Paul Brandt)
- "Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect." (Alan Cohen)
- "A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement." (Bo Bennett)
- "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching)
- "Do one thing every day that scares you." (Eleanor Roosevelt)
- "Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one." (Brad Paisley)
- "What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year." (Vern McLellan)
Resolution quotes about discipline and habits
- "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." (Jim Rohn)
- "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." (Will Durant, interpreting Aristotle, The Story of Philosophy)
- "Do not wait for the new year to change your life. Start making small changes today and let them accumulate into greatness." (James Clear)
- "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." (Robert Collier)
- Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you.
- "A New Year's resolution is a promise that you make to yourself, but the real power comes from showing up every single morning." (Robin Sharma)
- "What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." (Zig Ziglar)
- "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." (Robert Louis Stevenson)
- "Change begins at the end of your comfort zone." (Roy T. Bennett)
New Year quotes about mindset and fresh starts
- "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
- "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." (William Shakespeare)
- "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
- "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." (C.S. Lewis)
- "No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again." (Jack Kornfield)
- "The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all." (Josiah Martin)
- "Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start." (Nido Qubein)
- "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." (Maya Angelou)
- "It is never too late to be what you might have been." (George Eliot)
- "Each year's regrets are envelopes in which messages of hope are found for the New Year." (John R. Dallas Jr.)
- "Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties." (Helen Keller)
Quotes for kind and realistic resolutions
- "Resolutions are most often broken when they are made from guilt rather than desire." (Cheryl Richardson)
- "A resolution to be kinder to yourself often creates far more change than any strict rule ever could." (Kristin Neff)
- "Make New Year's goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you're interested in fully living life in the year to come." (Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go)
- "This year, let's resolve to focus on progress rather than perfection." (Brené Brown)
- "Let go of who you think you're supposed to be and embrace who you are." (Brené Brown)
- Resolution is not about creating a new person, but uncovering the person you were always capable of being.
- May your resolutions lead not just to achievements, but to a deeper peace with who you are and where you are going.
Which resolution quote to use
| Where you will use it | Quote to try |
|---|---|
| Top of a goal list | "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." (Jim Rohn) |
| Journal on January 1 | "No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again." (Jack Kornfield) |
| Instagram caption | "Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one." (Brad Paisley) |
| Note for a friend who gave up last year | "It is never too late to be what you might have been." (George Eliot) |
| Team kickoff in January | "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." (Mark Twain) |
| Card with a laugh | "May your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions." (Joey Adams) |
How to use these resolution quotes
Pick one quote for each goal and write it at the top of that page. Habit quotes fit fitness and work goals. Self-kindness quotes fit goals about rest and health. Keep the author's name next to the line.
For lighter lines, read our New Year quotes funny list and New Year quotes for family. For a gift that marks a fresh start, browse our best sellers.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good New Year's resolution quote?
Jim Rohn: "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."
What did Benjamin Franklin say about the new year?
In Poor Richard's Almanack (1755): "Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man."
What is a funny quote about New Year's resolutions?
Oscar Wilde: "Good resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account."
What is a short quote about starting the new year?
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started," credited to Mark Twain.
Why do New Year's resolutions fail?
Cheryl Richardson gives one reason: "Resolutions are most often broken when they are made from guilt rather than desire."
What day is New Year's Day 2027?
Friday, January 1, 2027.
