50 Short Quotes About Change and New Beginnings

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Change can feel like possibility, loss, or both at once. These 50 source-checked quotes offer words for starting over, leaving something behind, and becoming someone new.

Wording and punctuation follow the linked editions of each work.

Short Quotes About Change

“Things do not change; we change.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Life is a series of surprises.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience”
“The life of man is a self-evolving circle.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles”
“Every ultimate fact is only the first of a new series.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles”
“People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles”
“Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles”
“The old order changeth, yielding place to new.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King
“What’s past is prologue.” — William Shakespeare, The Tempest
“Life only avails, not the having lived.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”

Quotes About New Beginnings

“Only that day dawns to which we are awake.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“There is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles”
“The past and present wilt—I have fill’d them, emptied them. And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” — L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”
“Allons! the road is before us!” — Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”
“Come, my friends, ’tis not too late to seek a newer world.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”

Quotes About Letting Go

“The universe is wider than our views of it.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Explore thyself.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
“I exist as I am, that is enough.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
“Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, you must travel it for yourself.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“O time, thou must untangle this, not I.” — William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
“Ripeness is all.” — William Shakespeare, King Lear
“Tho’ much is taken, much abides.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Quotes About Courage During Change

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” — William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
“Action is eloquence.” — William Shakespeare, Coriolanus
“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” — William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“Men at some time are masters of their fates.” — William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.” — William Shakespeare, Henry V
“Power ceases in the instant of repose.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, missing me one place search another.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
“I cannot rest from travel: I will drink life to the lees.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”
“The readiness is all.” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Quotes About Growth and Reinvention

“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Insist on yourself; never imitate.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
“The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
“You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
“Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”
“I want to do something splendid.” — Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
“Never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.” — Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
“I am a part of all that I have met.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”

Choose One Line for What Comes Next

For a fresh start, choose a quote that points to an action rather than promising that change will be easy. Put it where you will see it, pair it with one next step, and let the line do its work.

If you need words for a harder season, read these quotes about strength and resilience. For broader collections, explore 100 short life quotes or 30 short quotes about happiness.

When sharing a quote across languages, OpenL can translate the text, but keep the author, work title, and original wording beside the translation so readers can trace the source.