23 October Quotes That Make Us So for Fall

Helen Norman

In the South, fall is often an allusive visitor. While September is technically the end of summer, the following months continue to feel like steamy, sun-filled days. We begin planning our Thanksgiving feast in November, and Christmas in December, so October is the only month that sits right in the sweet spot when Southerners can enjoy the autumn season.

With these inspiring October quotes, it's clear that these authors and poets have the same appreciation for October that we do. Muse about the gorgeous fall color outside with an October quote, or share a lighthearted poem with your family to celebrate October's arrival. Whether you're looking for a festive fall Instagram caption or need some autumn inspiration, these October quotes are just the right fit. Carve a pumpkin, pick an apple, bake a spice cake, admire the foliage, and say hello to October!

What better way to start October than with a new fall baking project? Our Pumpkin Spice Magic Cake is the most delicious (and fun!) place to kick off.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

"October is the treasure of the year,
     And all the months pay bounty to her store…" Paul Laurence Dunbar, October

Alexander Smith

"In the entire circle of the year there are no days so delightful as those of a fine October, when the trees are bare to the mild heavens, and the red leaves bestrew the road, and you can feel the breath of winter, morning and evening—no days so calm, so tenderly solemn, and with such a reverent meekness in the air." Alexander Smith

Lucy Maud Montgomery

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." Lucy Maud Montgomery, Ann of Green Gables

Nathaniel Hawthorne

"There is no season when suck pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October." Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hal Borlan

"October is a fallen leaf, but it is also the wider horizon more clearly seen. It is the distant hill once more in sight, and the enduring constellations above that hill once again." Hal Borlan, This Hill, This Valley

John Burroughs

"In October a maple-tree before your window lights up your room like a great lamp. Even on cloudy days its presence helps to dispel the gloom." John Burroughs

Elizabeth George Speare

"After the keen still days of September, the October sun filled the world with mellow warmth...The maple tree in front of the doorstep burned like a gigantic red torch. The oaks along the roadway glowed yellow and bronze. The fields stretched like a carpet of jewels, emerald and topaz and garnet. Everywhere she walked the color shouted and sang around her." Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Humbert Wolfe

"Listen! the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!" Humbert Wolfe, Autumn Resignation

Henry David Thoreau

"October is the month of painted leaves.
Their rich glow now flashes round the world.
As fruits and leaves and the day itself
acquire a bright tint just before they fall,
so the year near its setting.
October is its sunset sky;
November the later twilight." Henry David Thoreau, Autumnal Tints

Rainbow Rowell

"October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!" Rainbow Rowell, Attachments

Peggy Toney Horton

"My beloved October has returned—with its brilliant colors, cool temperatures and sunny, cloudless, azure skies, and I must enjoy it before it escapes for another year." Peggy Toney Horton, Somewhere in Heaven My Mother is Smiling

Ernest Christopher Dowson

"Pale amber sunlight falls across
    The reddening October trees,
    That hardly sway before a breeze
  As soft as summer: summer's loss
    Seems little, dear! on days like these." Ernest Christopher Dowson, Autumnal

Jacqueline Woodson

"He loved October. Had always loved it. There was something sad and beautiful about it—the ending and beginning of things." Jacqueline Woodson, If You Come Softly

Leif Enger

"I remember it as October days are always remembered, cloudless, maple-flavored, the air gold and so clean it quivers." Leif Enger, Peace Like a River

Katherine Arden

"You don't waste October sunshine. Soon the old autumn sun would bed down in cloud blankets, and there would be weeks of gray before it finally decided to snow." Katherine Arden, Small Spaces

Helen Hunt Jackson

"O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather." Helen Hunt Jackson, October's Bright Blue Weather

Sarah Guillory

"October had tremendous possibility. The summer's oppressive heat was a distant memory, and the golden leaves promised a world full of beautiful adventures. They made me believe in miracles." Sarah Guillory, Reclaimed

Robert Frost

"O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all." Robert Frost, October

Peggy Toney Horton

"This is October for me. Withdrawing into my own world, blocking out everything except the beauty of the season, my reflections, and my relationship with God, I find that this is enough to sustain me through the long cold winter, and beyond…" Peggy Toney Horton, Somewhere in Heaven My Mother is Smiling

William Cullen Bryant

"The sweet calm sunshine of October, now
Warms the low spot; upon its grassy mould
The purple oak-leaf falls; the birchen bough
Drops its bright spoil like arrow-heads of gold." William Cullen Bryant, October 1866

Elizabeth George Speare

"In October any wonderful unexpected thing might be possible." Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

"October turned my maple's leaves to gold;
The most are gone now; here and there one lingers:
Soon these will slip from out the twigs' weak hold,
Like coins between a dying miser's fingers." Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Maple Leaves

A.A. Milne

"Yet, I can face the winter with calm. I suppose I had forgotten what it was really like. I had been thinking of the winter as a horrid wet, dreary time fit only for professional football. Now I can see other things—crisp and sparkling days, long pleasant evenings, cheery fires. Good work shall be done this winter. Life shall be lived well. The end of the summer is not the end of the world. Here's to October…" A.A. Milne, A Word for Autumn