37 Quotes About the Moon That May Change the Way You Experience Life

This article originally appeared on Yoga Journal

There’s no shortage of musings prompted by the Moon, including untold numbers of poetic contemplations, amusing quips, and the occasional sonata. Many of these quotes about the Moon are imaginings, longings, things left unsaid, thoughts otherwise unexpressed. These are the parts of our human experience that we tend to keep in the shadows.

That’s not a surprise. Acknowledging the truth of who we are and what it is to be human is something that many tend to hold back from the light of day. According to astrology, the Moon is intrinsically related to our emotional side and reflects these very parts of ourselves back to us. Even your Moon sign reflects this. Whatever sign of the zodiac held the Moon at the moment of your birth also holds insights on how you trend to express or repress your emotions.

Fearing they will be misunderstood or deemed as weird, we sometimes relegate these subtle, quiet, less-flaunted parts of ourselves to the dark. This is reflected in the unfortunately misunderstood term “lunatic,” with origins in the Old French, English, and Latin words for the Moon. It literally meant “Moon sick” and was intended to describe someone who struggled at times. As we all do. Perhaps.

Or perhaps, rather than blame it on the Moon, we can perceive it as a confidant of sorts, a keeper of quiet secrets at times and an exquisite teller of truth at other moments. A luminous reminder that we are not alone in our experience, even in our darkest moments.

It’s not just poets who are touched by what the Moon unleashes within as they stare into the night. It’s each of us. In our own unique ways. Perhaps you’ll find something of yourself reflected in the following quotes about the Moon.

37 Quotes About the Moon That May Change The Way You Think About Life

The Moon as Soul Sister

1. I'm the type of woman that if I want the Moon, I'll get it down myself. --Frida Kahlo

2. She and the Moon could always be found playing in the darkness. --A.J. Lawless

3.

Quote about the moon from Oscar Wilde
(Illustration: Unknown)

4. She was beautifully
Out of place.
Sometimes I believe
She intended to be.
Like the Moon during the day.
--D.J.R

5. Stay wild, Moon child. --Riitta Klint

6. Go further than you planned. Ask for the Moon. You will be surprised how often you get it. --Paulo Coelho

7. She loves Moonlight
And rainstorms
And so many other things
That have soul
--JmStorm

The Moon as Truth Teller

8. Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the Moon, and the truth. --Buddha

9. The Sun watches what I do, but the Moon knows all my secrets. --M. Wonderland

10.

Quotes about the moon by Isra Al-Thibeh
(Illustration: Isra Al-Thibeh)

11. I’ve decided to make up my mind
about nothing. To assume the water mask,
to finish my life disguised as a creek,
an eddy, joining at night the full,
sweet flow, to absorb the sky,
to swallow the heat and cold, the Moon
and the stars, to swallow myself
in ceaseless flow.
--Jim Harrison

12. Everyone is a Moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. --Mark Twain

13. The Moon dances with me the way the sun never will. --S.B.

14. The Moon can only fill up once it becomes empty. And it can only shine in all its glory once it’s gone through its darkest expression. It doesn’t berate its darkness or wish for it to be any other way (as far as we know). --Carl Jung

The Moon as Complicit in Troublemaking

15.

Quote about the Moon and getting in trouble
(Illustration: Unknown)

16. Don’t worry if you’re making waves just by being yourself. The Moon does it all the time. --Scott Stabile

17. If the Moon smiled, she would resemble you. You leave the same impression. Of something beautiful, but annihilating. Both of you are great light borrowers. --Sylvia Plath

18. The Moon’s an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.
--William Shakespeare

19. I respect the Moon’s unwillingness to be photographed on a phone. --Unknown

The Moon as a Mood

20. Don't tell me the Moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.--Anton Chekhov

21.

Quotes about the Moon and being empty
(Illustration: Unknown)

Quotes About the Moon and Romance

22. It had seemed as close as a star to the Moon. --F. Scott FitzgeraldLove me like the Moon intended, all the way through the darkness. --A.J. Lawless

23. Her staring at you like you hung the stars in the sky when she thinks you're not looking. Like the Moon is made up of every breath that leaves your chest. This. --Darshana Suresh

24. And if you are to love
Love as the Moon loves;
It does not steal the night,
It only unveils the beauty of the dark.
--Isra Al-Thibeh

25. My darling, you can’t see it, can you? How like the Moon you are. Both of you so timid in yourselves; hiding pieces from the world. Then, there are those rare moments when you both are full, and it becomes hard to look away. --Alexandria Drzemiecki

26. Even after all this time, Sun never says to the Earth “you owe me.” Look what happens with a love like that. It lights up the whole sky.--Hafiz

27. There was a reason that she was so romantic about the Moon. It never asked her questions or begged for the answers nor did she ever have to prove herself to it. It was always just there--breathing, shining, and in ways most humans can’t understand: listening. --Christopher Poindexter

28. We can fly to the Moon together. --Ry Reed

29. Go slowly, my lovely Moon, go slowly. --Khaled Hosseini

30. Sometimes, I think of the sun and the Moon as lovers who rarely meet, always chase, and almost always miss one another. But once in a while, they do catch up, and they kiss, and the world stares in awe of their eclipse. --Anonymous

Quotes About the Moon as Inspiration and Companion

31. …any nation that can spend billions of dollars to put a man on the Moon can spend billions of dollars to put a man on his own two feet here on earth. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

32. The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. --Deng Ming-Dao

33. Don’t even try to talk to me when I’m watching the Moon. That’s my Moon, baby. --Wendelin Van Draanen

34. She held the Moon the way she held her own heart, as if it was the only light that could guide her through the darkest nights. --Chrissy Pinney

35. The growing and dying of the Moon reminds us of our ignorance, which comes and goes, but when the Moon is full, it is as if the Great Spirit were upon the whole world. --Black Elk, Oglala Lakota holy man

36. I like to think that the Moon is there, even if I am not looking at it. --Albert Einstein

37. Goodnight Moon. --Margaret Wise Brown, author of Goodnight Moon

About Our Contributor
Renee Marie Schettler is a senior editor at Yoga Journal and has been a writer and editor at The Washington Post, Real Simple, and other online media platforms. She started practicing yoga nearly 20 years ago with teachers in Manhattan who challenged students to feel the space and grace within the precise alignment of a pose. Her understanding of yoga changed when she began studying yoga with teachers who emphasized surrendering into the stillness of a pose. Renee has been teaching yoga since 2017 and finds that writing and practicing yoga are similarly all about exploring truth. Most nights, you will find her slipping outside to look at the Moon. Follow her at @reneemarieschettler.

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