The old year cracks under the burdensome weight of twelve heavy months, and the next year emerges fresh and anew from its shell. – Terri Guillemets, “A cracked bell still tolls,” 2010

The only way to spend New Years Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears. – W. H. Auden

I fear thee not, O untried morrow! – Julia B. Cady (d.1869), “New-Year Thoughts,” in Sabbath at Home, January 1870

You can press the old year betwixt the pages of a book, but alas! the new chapter always gets written. – Terri Guillemets, “Pressed for time,” 2005