From the latter weeks of October to Christmas-eve… is the period during which happiness is in season, which, in my judgment, enters the room with the tea-tray… – Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859), Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

September is dressing herself in showy dahlias and splendid marigolds and starry zinnias. October, the extravagant sister, has ordered an immense amount of the most gorgeous forest tapestry for her grand reception. – Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894), “Autumn,” The Atlantic Almanac, 1868

An October sort of city even in spring. – Nelson Algren, Chicago: City on the Make, 1951

The clear light that belongs to October was making the landscape radiant. – Florence Bone (1875–1971), The Morning of To‑Day, 1907