31 Inspirational Quotes to Brighten Your August Days

"Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance, and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun."

- Kent Nerburn

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

- Mother Teresa

"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."

- Mother Teresa

"August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know."

- Tove Jansson

"You can’t see the future coming — not the terrors, for sure, but you also can’t see the wonders that are coming, the moments of light-soaked joy that await each of us."

- John Green

"I do have reasons for hope: our clever brains, the resilience of nature, the indomitable human spirit, and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action."

- Jane Goodall

"Optimism doesn’t mean that you are blind to the reality of the situation. It means that you remain motivated to seek a solution to whatever problems arise."

- The Dalai Lama

"August is the slow, gentle month that stretches out the longest across the span of a year. It yawns and lingers on with the light in its palms."

- Victoria Erickson

"But I can see us lost in the memory, August slipped away into a moment in time…"

- Taylor Swift

"This morning, the sun endures past dawn. I realize that it is August: the summer's last stand."

- Sara Baume

"I love borders. August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know. Twilight is the border between day and night, and the shore is the border between sea and land. The border is longing: when both have fallen in love but still haven't said anything. The border is to be on the way. It is the way that is the most important thing."

- Tove Jansson

"For me, finding hope is not some philosophical exercise or sentimental notion; it is a prerequisite for my survival."

- John Green

"When summer opens, I see how fast it matures and fears it will be short; but after the heats of July and August, I am reconciled, like one who has had his swing, to the cool of autumn."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"August of another summer, and once again, I am drinking the sun, and the lilies again are spread across the water."

- Mary Oliver

"What I’ve realized is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children — all of our children — a better world. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."

- Barack Obama

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

- Barack Obama

"You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you."

- Barack Obama

"And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed."

- Maya Angelou

"Let July be July by allowing yourself to trust: it’s okay if you cannot make sense of it all right now. What matters is that somehow, you found grace to breathing through. And now, you’ve made it to August where you’ll find: there is more to you. Let August be August by allowing yourself to trust: you do not have to be so hard on yourself if you cannot make sense of all that is changing. In the coming days, you will find mystery, and you will also find room to breathe and you might just find even in these unknowns: you are more prepared than you think. You are free to take the time you need to feel what you need to feel… including the good feelings. Don’t let them rush you. You are traveling at the pace you were meant to. You are still free to pursue peace right here in the in-betweens. Whatever happens this month, be gentle with yourself. Even here, there is still space for us to rise above the fear... propelled into motion by love. There is more to come. More love. More joy. More grace. More peace. Let this be the August you look back on and say: somehow, through it all, I learned to fall in love with the journey."

- Morgan Harper Nichols

"August slipped away into a moment in time, 'cause it was never mine."

- Taylor Swift

"A life is not meant to be half lived. It is meant to be fully, wholly embraced. If you want to make a change in the world you have to be strong. You have to take chances. You have to persevere. Sometimes you must blindly go in a direction that you may be unsure of, but one that you have faith will lead you to the right place."

- Esther Earl

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer… like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning."

- Natalie Babbitt

"Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it."

- Mother Teresa

"Summer has filled her veins with light, and her heart is washed with noon."

- Cecil Day-Lewis

"We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are."

- Marsha P. Johnson

"Everything goes except the love you pour into others and the world."

- John Green

"Grief is not linear. It doesn’t have a set endpoint or a predictable path. It comes and goes, ebbs and flows. It’s messy and painful, but it’s also a testament to the love we shared."

- Megan Devine

"We have come a great distance in this country in the 50 years. But we still have a great distance to go before we fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King Jr."

- John Lewis

"It is our goal to really have America show up, this is not about issues for one group or one ethnic group. It’s about Americans. It’s about creating a climate for America to fulfill its true promise for all of its citizens."

- Martin Luther King III

"A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men."

- Gloria Steinem

"We have to ensure that women have the opportunity to compete. We may have to start with girls’ education to ensure that we have enough well-educated, knowledgeable women in a critical mass to be able to hold leadership positions… Women are not asking for gifts in leadership, they’re now asking to just be made leaders, they want to compete effectively but too often they’re not allowed that opportunity to compete."

- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."

- Audre Lorde

"Every action, no matter how small, is like drips on a rock — over time, they can carve a canyon through even the thickest, most immovable layer of rock."

- Shannon Watts

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning, The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color."

- Natalie Babbitt

"If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe."

- Evelyn Waugh

"This morning, the sun endures past dawn. I realise that it is August: the summer's last stand."

- Sara Baume

"August was nearly over – the month of apples and falling stars, the last care-free month for the school children. The days were not hot, but sunny and limpidly clear – the first sign of advancing autumn."

- Victor Nekrasov

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, lke the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone."

- Natalie Babbitt

"August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied."

- Joseph Wood Krutch

"Summertime is always the best of what might be."

- Charles Bowden

"August is a time of growing up, of forgotten forever’s, full of the sweetest intent."

- Meka Boyle

"August is that last flicker of fun and heat before everything fades and dies."

- Rasmenia Massoud

"August of another summer, and once again I am drinking the sun and the lilies again are spread across the water."

- Mary Oliver

"It was August, and the fields were high with corn. The first flowers of autumn would soon begin to set the hedgerows aflame."

- Arthur Conan Doyle

"Hello, August - you warm, green, golden month of peace and progress."

- Mary Rickert

"It is best to be born in April or August when the life-giving Sun is in its exaltation . . . for then we enter the sea of life on the crest-wave and are backed in the battle of existence by an abundant fund of vim and energy."

- Max Heindel

"I think that all human relationships are like a two-way street. You give and take. I think that’s especially important in grief. You give to your patients and their family members, but you can also take these beautiful, terrible moments."

- Sandra Menendez

"August is the month of the high-sailing hawks."

- John Burroughs

"My life’s long radiant Summer halts at last, And lo! beside my pathway I behold Pursuing Autumn glide: nor frost nor cold Has heralded her presence, but a vast Sweet calm that comes not till the year has passed Its fevered solstice, and a tinge of gold Subdues the vivid coloring of bold And passion-hued emotions. I will cast My August days behind me with my May, Nor strive to drag them into Autumn’s place, Nor swear I hope when I do but remember. Now violet and rose have had their day, I’ll pluck the soberer asters with good grace And call September nothing but September."

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August."

- Jenny Han

"Esther Day is a reminder that we should all make an effort to appreciate the people we love while we have them."

- John Green

"I love August - it's a gentle month that knows the sun is setting sooner than we'd like."

- Alexandra Ivy

"Breathe the sweetness that hovers in August."

- Denise Levertov

"Summer brings sunshine, warm and flowering."

- Lailah Gifty Akita

"I could never in a hundred summers get tired of this."

- Susan Branch

"Indigenous peoples are the guardians of the earth, the protectors of biodiversity, and the custodians of ancestral knowledge."

- Tarcila Rivera Zea

"It's a smile, it's a kiss, It's a sip of wine, it's summertime."

- Kenny Chesney

"My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July."

- Rick Bass

"August slipped through, and September came, green as ever..."

- L.M. Montgomery

"August is that last flicker of fun before the night arrives."

- Gemma Gary

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

- William Shakespeare

"August has passed, and yet summer continues by force to grow days. They sprout secretly between the chapters of the year, covertly included between its pages."

- Jonathan Safran Foer

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone."

- Natalie Babbitt

"It is best to be born in April or August when the life-giving Sun is in its exaltation… for then we enter the sea of life on the crest-wave and are backed in the battle of existence by an abundant fund of vim and energy."

- Max Heindel

"in August, a beautiful thing, powerful and yet lithe."

- John Steinbeck

"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time."

- Sylvia Plath

"August, the summer's last messenger of misery, is a hollow actor."

- John Buchan

"For August he wears a mulberry coat..."

- Christina Rossetti

"It's a cruel summer with you."

- Taylor Swift

"Long drawn, the cool, green shadows Steal o’er the lake’s warm breast, And the ancient silence follows the burning sun to rest. The calm of a thousand summers, And dreams of countless Junes, Return when the lake-wind murmurs through golden August noons."

- William Braithwaite

"Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer."

- Jenny Han

"No one can believe that God is not good when the August gardens are in their heyday."

- Gladys Taber

"When August nears, her mournful looks deplore 'the paradise of childhood' known no more."

- John Townsend Trowbridge

"That August time it was delight. To watch the red moons wane to white."

- Algernon Charles Swinburne

"August brings into sharp focus and a furious boil everything I’ve been listening to in the late spring and summer."

- Henry Rollins

"The month of August had turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled."

- Sue Monk Kidd

"One day you discover you are alive… but, not long after, the sun goes out. Snow falls, but no one sees it, on an August noon."

- Ray Bradbury

"You lead me Into the spacious, Autumnal country of my mind, There to dig in fallen leaves, And talk about the world."

- Amy Lowell

"Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that buzzing flies will stay outside, where they belong. Don’t think the summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year."

- Alice Hoffman

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color."

- Natalie Babbitt

"August, the summer’s last messenger of misery, is a hollow actor."

- Henry Rollins

"Leaving any bookstore is hard, especially on a day in August, when the street outside burns and glares, and the books inside are cool and crisp to the touch."

- Jane Smiley

"Dry August and warm, doth harvest no harm."

- Thomas Tusser

"Walking the streets of Charleston in the late afternoons of August was like walking through gauze or inhaling damaged silk."

- Pat Conroy

"And that feelin' never faded like the tan lines on your skin. I'd do June, July, and August, a thousand times again, yeah, mm, yeah. Can it be summer forever? Does love get any better than those three months together?"

- Ryan Hurd

"Happy August! May your month be filled with peace and happiness."

"Here's hoping that August is the month your biggest dreams come true."

"Cheers to an August filled with wonderful friends, big laughs, and carefree days."

"May the sunny days and blue skies of August bring you a month filled with laughter."

"Happy August, friends. Wishing you a month filled with smiles and happiness."

"Shine like the sun. Dance like the breeze. Sparkle like the stars. Happy August!"

"We greet August like an old friend, one who understands our need to slow down and enjoy the simple life."

"Hot days and fun nights; here's to another exciting August."

"Welcome, August! May your dreams soar higher than the summer sun."

"May the lazy days of summer be filled with relaxation and peace. Happy August!"

"Wishing you an August blooming with happiness and positivity."

"Wonderful friends. Endless laughter. Unstoppable fun. May August bring you everything you dream of!"

"As August arrives to wrap up summer, let's continue to relax and enjoy the sunshine."

"August: 31 chances to make your biggest dreams your beautiful reality."

"Cheers to August, another month of warmth, sunshine, and joy!"

"Happy August! There's so much beauty to be found in the simple joys of summer."

"Welcome, August! Let this month fill your heart with love and your spirit with peace."

"Turn the page to August and get ready to write the best chapter of your life."

"August is ripe and the color made the sole quieter than color can know."

"Here's to an August filled with magic, miracles, and the people who make your heart happy."

"Thank you, August, for giving us 31 days to fill with happiness, joy, and love."

"Happy August! Wishing you joyful summer days and magical summer nights."

"Let your spirit shine like the summer sun. Happy August!"

"May the August sun bring happiness and warmth to you and your loved ones."

"May your August nights be illuminated by starry skies and magical memories."

"Hello, August! Cheers to another gorgeous summer month."

"May the memories you make this August keep you smiling all year long."

"Here's to an enchanting month. Have a wonderful August!"

"Welcome, August! Please bring us sunny days, starry skies, and a month of love."

"New dreams, new attitude, new you: Happy August!"

"August Goals: Relax. Reset. Restore."

"Cheers to August! Embrace the sunshine and fill your days with bright possibilities."