78 Famous Christmas Quotes to Inspire You This Holiday Season

Share these short sayings with family and friends.

When Christmas arrives, it doesn't take much to get us in the holiday spirit. As soon as we watch our favorite Christmas movie and decorate the tree, we're ready for all of the festivities! But sometimes, it can be a challenge to put those feelings into words. That's where our favorite Christmas quotes come in. Whether you're looking for something inspirational or a short and funny message, we found the best quotes to share with family and friends. Pick your favorite to write in this year's Christmas card or as Christmas Instagram captions for all of your holiday posts. They make the perfect captions for any holiday photo or especially sweet additions to homemade gift tag when you're finally ready to wrap all the presents.

This list has it all, quotes that will remind you the reason for the season, the special joys of giving, and even how we can celebrate the most important aspects of Christmas all year long. If you need more inspiration for this incredible season, check out our Christmas Bible verses and Santa quotes.

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1
G.K. Chesterton
Getty Images

“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.”

2
Louisa May Alcott
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“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.”

3
Ernest Hemingway
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“If my Valentine you won't be, I'll hang myself on your Christmas tree.”

4
John J. Geddes
Country Living

"Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin—inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night."

5
Nora Roberts
Country Living

"Nothing ever seems too bad, too hard, or too sad when you've got a Christmas tree in the living room."

6
Alexander Smith
Country Living

"Christmas is the day that holds all time together."

7
Ruth Carter Stapleton
Country Living

"Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most."

8
Tom Baker
Country Living

"Some Christmas tree ornaments do more than glitter and glow, they represent a gift of love given a long time ago."

9
Edwin Osgood Grover
Country Living

"Santa Claus is anyone who loves another and seeks to make them happy; who gives himself by thought or word or deed in every gift that he bestows."

10
Harlan Miller
Country Living

"Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words."

11
Carolyn Wells
Country Living

"I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,
I notice this, each year I live;
I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give!"

12
Mildred L. Jarrell
Mildred L. Jarrell

"Let us have music for Christmas…
Sound the trumpet of joy and rebirth;
Let each of us try, with a song in our hearts,
To bring peace to men on earth."

13
David Grayson
Country Living

"As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year."

14
Pope John XXIII
Country Living

"Mankind is a great, an immense family. This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas."

15
Helen Lowrie Marshall
Country Living

"For Christmas is tradition time—
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all."

16
Benjamin Franklin
Country Living

"A good conscience is a continual Christmas."

17
Max Lucado
Country Living

"God goes to those who have time to hear him—and so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds."

18
Pope Francis
Country Living

"God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If He gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it."

19
Taylor Caldwell
Country Living

"And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent..."

20
David Cameron
Country Living

"Christmas gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us."

21
Mother Theresa
Country Living

"It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."

22
'Silver Bells'
Country Living

"City sidewalks
Busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style
In the air
There's a feeling
Of Christmas..."

Related: Best Christmas Songs

23
Tove Jansson
Country Living

"Christmas always rustled. It rustled every time, mysteriously, with silver and gold paper, tissue paper and a rich abundance of shiny paper, decorating and hiding everything and giving a feeling reckless extravagance."

24
Anonymous
Country Living

"May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve."

25
'The Polar Express'
Country Living

"Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see."

Related: Christmas Books for Kids

26
'Let it Snow'
Country Living

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

27
Clement Clarke Moore
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

28
Ann Garnett Schultz
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Let us keep Christmas beautiful without a thought of greed."

29
Dr. Seuss
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand."

30
Edward Pola and George Wyle
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

31
Valentine Davies, 'Miracle on 34th Street'
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind."

Related: Classic Christmas Movies

32
Winston Churchill
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection."

33
Will Ferrell, 'Elf'
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

Related: Best Elf Movie Quotes

34
Shirley Sallay
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Christmas now surrounds us, Happiness is everywhere. Our hands are busy with many tasks as carols fill the air."

35
Helen Steiner Rice
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day."

36
'The Polar Express'
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Just remember, the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart."

37
Zuzu Bailey, 'It's a Wonderful Life'
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."

38
Janice Maeditere
Design: Rebekah Lowin

"Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts."

39
Richelle E. Goodrich
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever."

40
Norman Wesley Brooks
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Christmas is forever, not for just one day. For loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away.”

41
James Cash Penney
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“The Christmas spirit is a spirit of giving and forgiving.”

42
Bing Crosby
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it white.”

43
Phillips Brooks
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“The world has grown weary through the years, but at Christmas, it is young.”

44
Freya Stark
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Christmas is a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.”

45
Josephine Daskam Bacon
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Remember this December, that love weighs more than gold.”

46
Dr. Seuss
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.”

47
Norman Vincent Peale
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Christmas is the season of joy, of gift-giving, and of families united.”

48
Helen Steiner Rice
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Peace on earth will come to stay when we live Christmas every day."

49
Roy L. Smith
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."

50
Deborah Whipp
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance—each beautiful, unique, and gone too soon.”

51
Agnes M. Pahro
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“What is Christmas? It is the tenderness of the past, courage for the present, and hope for the future."

52
Andy Rooney
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day."

53
Brigham Young
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Love the giver more than the gift."

54
Alexander Smith
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas is the day that holds all time together."

55
Burton Hills
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

56
Calvin Coolidge
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind."

57
Bob Hope
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things—not the great occasions—give off the greatest glow of happiness."

58
Augusta E. Randel
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance—a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.”

59
Carrie Fisher
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"I don't think Christmas is necessarily about things. It's about being good to one another."

60
Edna Ferber
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling."

61
Charles Dickens
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

62
Charles M. Schulz
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone."

63
Harlan Miller
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“I wish we could put some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.”

64
Eric Sevareid
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves."

65
Bob Hope
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others."

66
W.C. Jones
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"The joy of brightening other lives becomes for us the magic of the holidays."

67
Norman Vincent Peale
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

68
Dale Evans Rogers
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.”

69
Hamilton Wright Mabie
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."

70
Margaret Thatcher
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends."

71
W.T. Ellis
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.”

72
Thomas Tusser
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“At Christmas, play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.”

73
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“And we are better throughout the year for having in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time.”

74
Pindar
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection."

75
Washington Irving
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart."

76
Marjorie Holmes
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"At Christmas, all roads lead home."

77
W.J. Tucker
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

“Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.”

78
Peg Bracken
Design: Emily Schiff-Slater

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas."

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