November is here — ushering in the season of gratitude and stirring a reflective energy that inspires us to cherish each moment of dwindling daylight and the soothing cool breeze!
It’s a month of heartwarming reunions, golden landscapes, and the anticipation of winter’s embrace.
To help you appreciate the wonder of November, we’ve curated a selection of positive and inspiring quotes (and poems) about the eleventh month of the year.
And because we’re Good Good Good — we’ve also spotlighted the best quotes around November’s awareness month and notable days — including Native American Heritage Month, World Kindness Day, Giving Tuesday, and Veterans Day.
Plus, quotes from inspirational celebrities and leaders who were born in the month of November.
Whether you’re getting ready for the holiday season, celebrating a November birthday, or just seeking a splash of positivity to kick-off the month, these quotes are for you. Scroll all the way through to discover some hidden gems.
Here’s to making the most of November!
Explore more monthly quotes: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
The Best November Quotes
Famous Quotes About November
“November is chill, frosted mornings with a silver sun rising behind the trees, red cardinals at the feeders, and squirrels running scallops along the tops of the gray stone walls.”
— Jean Hersey
“In November you begin to know how long the winter will be.”
— Martha Gellhorn
“Peering from some high window, at the gold of November sunset and feeling that if day has to become night, this is a beautiful way.”
— E. E. Cummings
“November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year.”
— Louisa May Alcott
“The August noon in us works to stave off the November chills.”
— Ray Bradbury
“The thinnest yellow light of November is more warming and exhilarating than any wine they tell of. The mite which November contributes becomes equal in value to the bounty of July.”
— Henry David Thoreau
“It is also November. The noons are more laconic and the sunsets sterner and Gibraltar lights make the village foreign. November always seems to me the Norway of the year.”
— Emily Dickinson
Motivational November Quotes
“The month of November makes me feel that life is passing more quickly. In an effort to slow it down, I try to fill the hours more meaningfully.”
— Henry Rollins
“Let this be the November you always remember. The November you chose to believe there was more to your future than you were able to see. The November where you learned to trust that after everything happened, in time, you would grow in the courage to open up again. And you could look forward to these new unknowns, believing that no matter what would happen, you would still grow. You would still be worthy of love, even though you were made to feel you were not good enough. Let this be the November you chose to rise above. Let this be the November where everything changed, and you decided you were free to heal and never be the same.”
— Morgan Harper Nichols
“Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils.”
— Cyril Connolly
“We mourn the blossoms of May because they are to whither; but we know that May is one day to have its revenge upon November, by the revolution of that solemn circle which never stops — which teaches us in our height of hope, ever to be sober, and in our depth of desolation, never to despair.”
— William Peter Blatty
“November is auspicious in so many parts of the country: the rice harvest is already in, the weather starts to cool, and the festive glow which precedes Christmas has began to brighten the landscape.”
— F. Sionil Jose
“Whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, I shall recall the memory of warm, sunny, late summer afternoons like this one, and be comforted greatly.”
— Peggy Toney Horton
“This is the month of nuts and nutty thoughts — that November whose name sounds so bleak and cheerless — perhaps its harvest of thought is worth more than all the other crops of the year.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Quotes for Awareness Holidays in November
A collection of quotes to celebrate November’s awareness months and national days.
→ Explore more of this month’s awareness days in our November calendar
Native American Heritage Month
November 1 - November 30
“The success of my journey depended on whether my heart walked forward — toward my people — instead of backward, away from them.”
— Anasazi Foundation, The Seven Paths: Changing One’s Way of Walking in the World
“Celebrating what we hope for together is better than fighting over what we believe separately.”
— Steven Charleston, Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage
“When we connect with our ancestors and put their wisdom into action, we are evolving our collective consciousness. We are transporting the ancient truths of our collective past and birthing them into our future. What we create out of those truths extends the wisdom of all those who have gone before us, and it provides a guide for all those who will follow.”
— Sherri Mitchell Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset
→ Read about how to celebrate Native American Heritage Month
World Kindness Day
November 13
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
― Ian MacLaren
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know when it will be too late.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
— Maya Angelou
→ Read about how to celebrate World Kindness Day
→ Explore more quotes about kindness
Veterans Day
November 11
“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”
— Arthur Ashe
“Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice, and we must.”
— Barack Obama
“But this Veterans Day, I believe we should do more than sing the praises of the bravery and patriotism that our veterans have embodied in the past. We should take this opportunity to re-evaluate how we are treating our veterans in the present.”
— Nick Lampson
→ Read some good news about veterans
→ Read about 8 ideas to celebrate Veterans Day
Thanksgiving
Fourth Thursday in November
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”
— Henry Van Dyke
“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.”
— Maya Angelou
“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
— Charles Dickens
→ Explore more quotes about gratitude
→ Explore more quotes about Thanksgiving
Small Business Saturday
First Saturday after Thanksgiving
“You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing.”
— Dale Carnegie
“I never dreamed about success — I worked for it.”
— Estée Lauder
“Make something people want includes making a company that people want to work for.”
— Sahil Lavingia, CEO of Gumroad
→ Explore more quotes about Small Business Saturday
→ Explore more quotes about small businesses
→ Read about how to celebrate Small Business Saturday
Giving Tuesday
First Tuesday after Thanksgiving
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“This Giving Tuesday please remember that it’s not about how much you can give. Big things happen when we all chip in a buck or two. And your time is valuable! If you’re able, consider spending a few hours volunteering in your community this season.”
— Chasten Buttigieg
“We all can do a little bit more than we’re doing — and today’s a great day to start. This Giving Tuesday, I invite you to think about what you can do to give back. Is there a program you can support? Do you have anything you want to donate? How do you plan to give back today?”
— Van Jones
→ Explore more quotes about Giving Tuesday
→ Read about how to celebrate Giving Tuesday
Quotes from Inspiring People with November Birthdays
Yvon Chouinard
November 9
“You ask me about the past, you ask me about the future, the only way to be happy is to be living right now.”
— Yvon Chouinard
“The solution maybe for a lot of the world’s problems is to turn around and take a forward step. You can’t just keep trying to make a flawed system work.”
— Yvon Chouinard
“I have a little different definition of evil than most people — When you have the opportunity and the ability to do good and you do nothing, that’s evil. Evil doesn’t always have to be an overt act, it can be merely the absence of good.”
— Yvon Chouinard
→ Explore more Yvon Chouinard quotes
Bryan Stevenson
November 14
“We all have a responsibility to create a just society.”
— Bryan Stevenson
But simply punishing the broken — walking away from them or hiding them from sight — only ensures that they remain broken and we do, too. There is no wholeness outside of our reciprocal humanity.”
— Bryan Stevenson
“Hope is kind of an orientation of the spirit; it’s how you position yourself in places where there’s a lot of despair.”
— Bryan Stevenson, on a podcast
→ Explore more Bryan Stevenson quotes
Bill Nye
November 27
“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.”
— Bill Nye
“To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.”
— Bill Nye, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation
“What happens to other species also happens to us.”
— Bill Nye, Undeniable
Funny November Quotes
“There is October in every November and there is November in every December. All seasons melted in each other’s life.”
— Mehmet Murat İldan
“In November, some birds move away and some birds stay. The air is full of good-byes and well-wishes. The birds who are leaving look very serious. No silly spring chirping now. They have long journeys and must watch where they are going. The staying birds are serious, too, for cold times lie ahead.”
— Cynthia Rylant
“The house was very quiet, and the fog — we are in November now — pressed against the windows like an excluded ghost.”
— Edward Morgan Forster, Howards End
November Poems
“The river this November afternoon rests in an equipoise of sun and cloud. A glooming light, a gleaming darkness shroud. Its passage. All seems tranquil, all in tune.”
— Cecil Day-Lewis
“November’s days are thirty: November’s earth is dirty, Those thirty days, from first to last; And the prettiest things on ground are the paths…”
— Edward Thomas
“November woods are bare and still. November days are bright and good. Life’s noon burns up life’s morning chill. Life’s night rests feet which long have stood.”
— Helen Fiske Hunt Jackson
“Fear not November’s challenge bold. We’ve books and friends, and hearths that never can grow cold. These make amends.”
— Alexander L. Fraser
“And November sad, a psalm. Tender, trustful, full of balm. Thou must breathe in spirits calm.”
— Caroline May
“So dull and dark are the November days. The lazy mist high up the evening curled, and now the morn quite hides in the smoke and haze; the place we occupy seems all the world.”
— John Clare
“Gray November
I’ve been down since July
Motion capture
Put me in a bad light”
— Taylor Swift
Short November Quotes
“November at its best — with a sort of delightful menace in the air.”
— Anne Bosworth Greene
“November’s sky is chill and drear, November’s leaf is red and sear.”
— Walter Scott
“Now in November nearer comes the sun down the abandoned heaven.”
— D. H. Lawrence
“How sad would be November if we had no knowledge of the spring.”
— Edwin Way Teale
“November is secret and silent.”
— Allison Uttley
“Oh how wonderfully you have grown since November of last year.”
— Morgan Harper Nichols
More November Quotes
“November comes, and November goes. With the last red berries and the first white snows. With night coming early and dawn coming late, and ice in the bucket and frost by the gate. The fires burn, and the kettles sing, and earth sinks to rest until next spring.”
— Clyde Watson, Frost by the Gate
“November wind has a sound different from any other. It is easy to imagine the cave of the winds in some mythical Northland where the winds are born and the gods send them out to conquer the quiet air.”
— Gladys Taber
“There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
“The wind that makes music in November corn is in a hurry. The stalks hum, the loose husks whisk skyward in half-playing swirls, and the wind hurries on… A tree tries to argue, bare limbs waving, but there is no detaining the wind.”
— Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
“In November, the smell of food is different. It is an orange smell. A squash and pumpkin smell. It tastes like cinnamon and can fill up a house in the morning, can pull everyone from bed in a fog. Food is better in November than any other time of the year.”
— Cynthia Rylant
“I have come to regard November as the older, harder man’s October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer’s death as winter tightens its grip.”
— Henry Rollins
“But there is always a November space after the leaves have fallen when she felt it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods…for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.”
— L.M. Montgomery
“Don’t wait until the fourth Thursday in November, to sit with family and friends to give thanks. Make every day a day of Thanksgiving.”
— Charmaine J. Forde
“Some of the days in November carry the whole memory of summer as a fire opal carries the color of moon rise.”
— Gladys Taber
“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets.”
— Cynthia Rylant
“When shriek’d the bleak November winds and smote the woods, and the brownfields were herbless, and the shades. That met above the merry rivulet, were spoil’d, I sought, I loved them still, they seem’d like old companions in adversity.”
— William Cullen Bryant
“It was the best kind of November day. Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy. Just cold enough that she could justifiably wear all her favorite clothes…”
— Rainbow Rowell
“November with uncanny witchery in its changed trees. With murky red sunsets flaming in smoky crimson behind the westering hills. With dear days when the austere woods were beautiful and gracious in a dignified serenity of folded hands and closed eyes — days full of a fine, pale sunshine that sifted through the late, leafless gold of the juniper trees and glimmered among the grey beeches, lighting up evergreen banks of moss and washing the colonnades of the pines.”
— L.M. Montgomery
“The wild November comes at last beneath a veil of rain. The night wind blows its folds aside, her face is full of pain. The latest of her race, she takes the Autumn’s vacant throne. She has but one short moon to live and she must live alone.”
— R.H. Stoddard
“It was one of those early November mornings that are as beautiful as any in spring. There was gold everywhere, drifts of it on the elm tree, flakes of gold under our feet, gold dust on the hedges, liquid gold in the refracted falling light.”
— Elizabeth Goudge, The Dean’s Watch
