As New Englanders, we know snow. Winters can be harsh, unpredictable and unforgiving. Nonetheless, most of us stop to marvel at the quiet beauty of a snow-covered forest, and the first snowfall sprinkled on our porches is still a magical sight. Here are quotes about snowfall and winter that remind us how our longest season continues to captivate generations of writers and poets:
Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness.
Mary Oliver, “Snowy Night”
Boston, Massachusetts
Kindness is like snow- It beautifies everything it covers.
Kahlil Gibran
Snowfall in Boston Common
A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.
Susan Orlean, Snow Day in “The New Yorker”
Burlington, Vermont
Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood.
Andy Goldsworthy
Vermont
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about–whenever the wind blows.
Lewis Carol, “Through the Looking Glass”
Photograph by Olivia Basile
Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem.
William Hamilton Gibson
Portland Head Light, Maine
Thank goodness for the first snow. It was a reminder–no matter how old you became and how much you’d seen–things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered.
Candace Bushnell
Beech Hill Preserve, Maine
When snow falls, nature listens.
Antoinette van Kleeff
Photograph by Matthew Landers
Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night will always fill my heart with sweet clarity.
Novala Takemoto
Burlington, Vermont
