Nature looks dead in winter because her life is gathered into her heart. She withers the plant down to the root that she may grow it up again fairer and stronger. She calls her family together within her inmost home to prepare them for being scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. – Hugh Macmillan, “Rejuvenescence,” The Ministry of Nature, 1871

In winter-time visions of Spring and Summer are conjured at will by poets… – Helen Rose Anne Milman Crofton, My Kalendar of Country Delights, “Prelude,” 1903

One faire day in winter makes not birds merrie. – Witts Recreations: Selected from the Finest Fancies of Modern Muses, with A Thou

In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold. – Ben Aaronovitch, Broken Homes