30 Quotes to Inspire You to Make the Most of Summer!

Photo by Roderick Eime (Flickr)

Daytime temperatures soared into the 90s recently weekend, a sure sign that means summer's right around the corner. My girls and I can't wait! They've already started a summer bucket list and plan to read books in our hammock, take hikes on local trails, and spend time with their friends around the pool. Their enthusiasm motivated me to find quotes that will inspire us and your family to make the most of this season.

1. "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
2. "One benefit of summer was that each day, we had more light to read by." (Jeanette Walls)
3. "Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. For those few months, you're not required to be who everyone thinks you are, and that cut-grass smell in the air and the chance to dive into the deep end of a pool give you a courage you don't have the rest of the year. You can be grateful and easy, with no eyes on you and no past. Summer just opens the door and lets you out." (Deb Caletti)
4. "One must maintain a little bit of summer even in the middle of winter." (Henry David Thoreau)
5. "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." (Rachel Carson)
6. "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere." (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
7. "To me, a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug." (Helen Keller)
8. "In the long dusks of summer, we walked the suburban streets through scents of maple and cut grass, waiting for something to happen." (Steven Millhauser)
9. "Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." (Jenny Han)
10. "In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible." (Sarah Dessen)
11. "I never before knew the full value of trees. Under them I breakfast, dine, write, read, and receive my company." (Thomas Jefferson)
12. "As children observe, reflect, record, and share nature's patterns and rhythms, they are participating in a process that promotes scientific and ecological awareness, problem-solving, and creativity." (Deb Matthews Hensley)
13. "Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral." (John Burroughs)
14. "Children learn best through their everyday experiences with the people they love and trust and when the learning is fun. And the best place for these experiences is outdoors, in the natural world." (Center for Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning)
15. "In the woods, we return to reason and faith." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
16. "A weed is no more than a flower in disguise." (James Russell Lowell)
17. "Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time." (John Lubbock)
18. "To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, an eternity in an hour." (William Blake)
19. "The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature." (Anne Frank)
20. "The forests are the flags of nature. They appeal to all and awaken inspiring universal feelings. Enter the forest and the boundaries of nations are forgotten. It may be that sometime an immortal pine will be the flag of a united and peaceful world." (Enos A. Mills)
21. "Children the world over have a right to a childhood filled with beauty, joy, adventure, and companionship. They will grow toward ecological literacy if the soil they are nurtured in is rich with experience, love, and good examples." (Alan Dyer)
22. "Children have a natural affinity towards nature. Dirt, water, plants, and small animals attract and hold children's attention for hours, days, even a lifetime." (Robin C. Moore and Herb H Wong)
23. "At these times, the things that troubled her seemed far away and unimportant: All that mattered was the hum of the bees and the chirp of birdsong, the way the sun gleamed on the edge of a blue wildflower, the distant bleat and clink of grazing goats." (Alison Croggon)
24. "Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives." (Thomas Berry)
25. "One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race." (Wendell Berry)
26. "The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration." (Claude Monet)
27. "The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." (Galileo)
28. "Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." (Frank Lloyd Wright)
29. "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." (Gandhi)
30. "Let children walk with nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed and as beautiful as life." (John Muir)

This summer, my girls and I plan to enjoy every day to the fullest. These 30 quotes can also inspire you to maximize your summer. What summer activities are you and your kids looking forward to the most?

Find more about the author: Kim Hart

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