Writers on New Year’s Resolutions for the Bookish Soul

Compiled by Rebecca Dill

It seems everyone has an opinion on New Year’s resolutions. Some look toward the future, setting goals to measure what they hope to accomplish or improve in the year to come. Others reflect on the past, learn from mistakes, and vow to form better habits. Then there are those who scoff at the idea of resolutions, contending that the motivation behind the resolutions will fall flat in all of a week. All this to say, there’s no right or wrong way to go about it. We’ve rounded up quotes by famous writers of the past and present, all with differing perspectives on the topic, to give you some inspiration for making—or not making—your own resolutions for 2020.

Hit Refresh: G.K. Chesterton

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.”

Focus on the Future: T.S. Eliot

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.”

Don’t Dwell on the Negatives: Ellen Goodman

“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.”

Encourage Courage: Maya Angelou

“We need the courage to create ourselves daily, to be bodacious enough to create ourselves daily — as Christians, as Jews, as Muslims, as thinking, caring, laughing, loving human beings. I think that the courage to confront evil and turn it by dint of will into something applicable to the development of our evolution, individually and collectively, is exciting, honorable.”

Make Mistakes: Neil Gaiman

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly you’re Doing Something.”

Forget Perfectionism: Anne Lamott

“Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend. What people somehow (inadvertently, I’m sure) forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here — and, by extension, what we’re supposed to be writing.”

Value Your Time and Use it Wisely: Seneca

“So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it…Life is long if you know how to use it.”