Fall isn't just a time for chunky knits and warm apple cider. It's a beautiful moment of reflection and renewal, symbolized by the changing and falling of the leaves.
While you might be eager to usher in new beginnings (hello, sweater weather!), be sure to take a moment to embrace the beauty of the present moment — the fiery leaves, pumpkin-filled porches and autumnal air — with these inspirational fall quotes. Below, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and other beloved figures speak to the promise — and joy — of the season.
A lot of these quotes are rather somber in nature, but a select few offer a funny take on all that autumn brings — Halloween and Thanksgiving included. Keep the wisdom to yourself or use the shorter quotes as Instagram captions to help your followers get in the seasonal spirit. And if you opt for the latter, throw in a gourd fall pun (get it?) to drive your point home.
Grab your PSL, get cozy and relish in the splendor of the season.
- "Autumn, it carries more gold in its hand than all the other seasons." — Jim Bishop
- "I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." — L.M. Montgomery, "Anne of Green Gables"
- "It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon." — Sarah Addison Allen, "First Frost"
- "Every leaf speaks bliss to me / Fluttering from the autumn tree." — Emily Bronte, "Fall, Leaves, Fall"
- "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." — F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"
- "The first breath of autumn was in the air, a prodigal feeling, a feeling of wanting, taking, and keeping before it is too late." — J.L. Carr, "A Month in the Country"
- "Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale." — Lauren DeStefano, "Wither"
- "Autumn is as joyful and sweet as an untimely end." — Remy de Gourmant
- "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." — Albert Camus
- "Since you went away the days grow long / And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song / But I miss you most of all my darling / When autumn leaves start to fall." — Nat King Cole, "Autumn Leaves"
- "Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits." — Samuel Butler
- "The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens apples, the other turns them to cider." — Jane Hirshfield, "The Heat of Autumn"
- "Autumn mornings: sunshine and crisp air, birds and calmness, year’s end and day’s beginnings." — Terri Guillemets
- "Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place / And I can picture it after all these days." — Taylor Swift, "All Too Well"
- "No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face." — John Donne, "The Autumnal Face"
- "Fall is here, hear the yell." — The White Stripes, "We're Going to Be Friends"
- "Aprils have never meant much to me, autumns seem that season of beginning, spring." — Truman Capote, "Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories"
- "It’s autumn in New York / That brings the promise of new love / Autumn in New York / Is often mingled with pain." — Ella Fitzgerald, "Autumn in New York"
- "Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." — Nora Ephron, "You've Got Mail"
- "He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams." — J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Fellowship of the Ring"
- "Autumn leaves don’t fall, they fly. They take their time and wander on this their only chance to soar." — Delia Owens, "Where the Crawdads Sing"
- "Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground." — Andrea Gibson
- "Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day." — Shira Tamir
- "Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love — that makes life and nature harmonize." — George Eliot
- "I notice that Autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature." — Friedrich Nietzsche
- "The heart of autumn must have broken here, and poured its treasure upon the leaves." — Charlotte Fiske Bates, "Woodbines in October"
- "She looked like autumn, when leaves turned and fruit ripened." — Sarah Addison Allen, "Garden Spells"
- "I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it." — Lee Maynard
- "Autumn lingered on as if fond of its own perfection." — Winston Graham, "Ross Poldark"
- "And the sun took a step back, the leaves lulled themselves to sleep and autumn was awakened." — Raquel Franco
