130+ quotes that prove you don’t need New Year’s resolutions to thrive
Updated: Jan 6
Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde would agree—resolutions aren’t as life-changing as we think
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Every year, by the time the clock strikes midnight on 31 December, millions of people have drafted a laundry list of New Year’s resolutions, either out of their conditioning or in the hopes of turning a fresh page in life.
Yet, studies show that over 90% of resolutions fail within just the first few months.
Why?
Because New Year’s resolutions often come with unrealistic expectations, pressure, and a lack of attention given to achieving the requisite mindset.
Some of them are borrowed aspirations stemming from the ego instead of your heart or soul’s true desires.
In short, many of them arise from an unhealthy place.
So, this year, instead of setting ourselves up for failure, let’s embrace a timeless truth.
True growth requires passion, inner work, consistent effort, and immediate action, which can be done any time in the year.
To inspire this realisation, I’ve compiled 130+ quotes that challenge the idea of New Year’s resolutions.
Whether you’re tired of the guilt that comes with broken promises or simply want a fresh perspective, these quotes will leave you empowered and laughing in equal measure.
Humorous digs for starters
“New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.” —Mark Twain
“The most fun part about making New Year’s resolutions is breaking New Year’s resolutions.” —Anonymous
“May all your troubles last as long as New Year’s resolutions.” —Joey Adams
“‘Have you ever kept a single one of your resolutions?’
‘No.’
‘Me neither.’”
―Anna Gavalda, Hunting and Gathering (Get the book here.)
“I've never had much luck with New Year’s resolutions. Last year I only lasted three days before realizing I couldn’t survive without junk food. And the year before that, when my sister and I promised not to argue anymore, we didn’t even make it to the end of my dad’s New Year’s Eve party. I’ll spare you the gory details, but fruit punch and guacamole were involved. So was dry cleaning.” ―James Ponti, Blue Moon (Get the book here.)
“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” —Anonymous
“My New Year’s resolution is to stop hanging out with people who ask me about my New Year’s resolutions.” —Anonymous
Witty critiques to follow
“Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.” —Oscar Wilde
“He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; he who makes one is a fool.” —Farquhar McGillivray Knowles
“Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn’t it, of a long line of proven criminals?” —Ogden Nash
“Making New Year resolutions is one thing. Remaining resolute and seeing them through is quite another.” ―Alex Morritt, Impromptu Scribe (Get the book here.)
“New Year’s Day now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” —Mark Twain
The futility of resolutions―in a nutshell
“May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early.” —Anonymous
“Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self-assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle.” —Eric Zorn
“Resolutions are a complete waste of time. They’re just this meaningless ritual, empty promises we make and break within hours of each other.” ―Hillary DePiano, New Year’s Thieve (Get the book here.)
“Setting goals is easy. As with New Year’s resolutions, any of us can jot down long lists of things we hope to accomplish in the future … but then we continue to live exactly as we have in the past.” ―Og Mandino, A Better Way to Live (Get the book here.)
“And it’s frustrating because you’ve never been taught how to bridge the gap between theory and practice, between your New Year’s resolutions and your actual behaviour.” ―Aldous Huxley, Island (Get the book here.)
“Your willpower is not strong enough to successfully police your desires. If you really did have that kind of power, then New Year’s resolutions would work.” ―David Brooks, The Road to Character (Get the book here.)
“I will abandon the ritual of unwrapping a fresh package of new resolutions which feel individual in nature. They perpetuate a myth of self-sufficiency.” ―Major Jackson
“Did no one notice that life itself proceeded without interruption, indifferent to your resolutions and reflections?” ―Anna Pitoniak, Necessary People (Get the book here.)
“According to studies, 92 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail.” ―Jon Acuff, Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done (Get the book here.)
Bite-sized insights
“They tell themselves that this is the year things will happen, never realizing that things are always happening; they’re just happening without them.” ―Shaun David Hutchinson, We Are the Ants (Get the book here.)
“Never plant promises that won’t grow into fruition.” ―Anthony T Hincks
“I would never, ever again create something thinking that I would be able to preserve it.” ―Marcia Tucker, A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World
“If you just want to do something because it is a customary new year resolution, then soon enough the year will get a bit older, and the strength of your decision will also begin to wear off.” ―Archibald Marwizi, Making Success Deliberate (Get the book here.)
“A good friend always asks about your new year’s resolutions. A great friend encourages you to make none.” —Anonymous
Satirical tidbits
“I am not much for resolutions. Dusting off a stepper because we switched out our calendar is pointless. After all, society also conditions that most will whiff their resolutions by January 3rd, at which point one is to abandon the resolutions utterly and feel guilty as one devours a box of Christmas chocolates.” ―Thomm Quackenbush, A Creature Was Stirring (Get the book here.)
“It is 365 days, so we’ll see what happens. You can’t be too sure.” —Anonymous
“The only new year resolution most people should make is to make no more resolutions. People really suck at keeping up their resolutions.” —Anonymous
The power of ‘now’
“I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. I think if you want to change something, change it today and don’t wait until the New Year.” —Georgina Bloomberg
“You don’t have to wait until January 1 to change.” —Anonymous
“I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. I believe in new day or new hour resolutions.” ―Robert Braathe
“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on.” —Hal Borland
“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.” —Anonymous
Personal reflections
“The year is 365 days long. You don’t need just one day to start.” —Anonymous
“A new year began six months ago but I feel like the time for change is now.” ―Anjali Kirpalani, Never Say Never (Get the book here.)
“I never really make solid resolutions. I think if there’s something one needs to change with oneself, it doesn’t have to happen in the New Year.” —Brittany Murphy
“Decisions that lead to no action, like a decision to start a new diet tomorrow, are no decisions at all. That's why (it’s) so easy to make New Year’s resolutions.” —HW Lewis, Why Flip a Coin?: The Art and Science of Good Decisions (Get the book here.)
“You have not just one extra year but an entire lifetime to keep trying until you get it right.” ―Chinonye J Chidolue
Action, action, action!
“‘I forgot to make my New Year’s resolution.’
‘Don’t worry, little one. If there’s something you want to change you can start right now.‘” ―James Norbury, Big Panda & Tiny Dragon (Get the book here.)
“I hope … when things go badly—people create themselves a New Years’s day the moment they need it … Don’t wait until December 31st to start anew.” —SK Munt, Urchin (Get the book here.)
“The New Year is a fabricated line of demarcation wherein we believe that this ‘line’ gifts us with the opportunity for a new start and an excuse to celebrate it.” ―Craig D Lounsbrough
“Good resolutions are like babies crying in church. They should be carried out immediately.” ―Charles M Sheldon
Oh, the irony!
“Dear New Year’s Resolutions,
Well, it was fun while it lasted.
Sincerely,
2 January” —Anonymous
“Many years ago, I resolved never to bother with New Year’s resolutions, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.” —Dave Beard
“My New Year’s resolution list usually starts with the desire to lose between 10 and 3,000 pounds.” —Nia Vardalos
“My New Year’s resolution is to stop feeling guilty about not keeping last year’s resolution.” —Anonymous
Why you’ll quit before you start
“I was going to quit all my bad habits for the new year, but then I remembered that nobody likes a quitter.” —Anonymous
“If it takes me more than 2 days to break my resolutions, I’ve made too many.” —Anonymous
“This New Year’s, I was going to make a resolution never to be late again, but I didn’t wake up until January 2.” —Melanie White
“New Year’s resolutions always fall through because people aim too high. You gotta start small, something like, ‘I’ll try my best not to eat a whole family-sized pizza by myself once a week.’” —Anonymous
“New year resolution: Complete the resolutions I set in 2019 that were actually from 2018, passed down from 2017, originally from 2016, actually set in 2015, that all began in 2014 but truly started in 2013.” —Anonymous
Not for the perfect
“New Year’s resolutions are made by those who are imperfect. I was born perfect.” —Anonymous
“I never saw the point of all those New Year’s resolutions. I mean, I’m already so perfect.” —Anonymous
“I’m still the same person I was last year—now I’m just hung over.” —Anonymous
“Let’s pretend we’re going to be better people in the new year.” —Anonymous
Weight and fitness specials
“No need for resolutions to get in shape this year. Round is a shape, and you’re perfectly it.” —Anonymous
“I would lose weight for my New Year’s resolution, but I hate losing.” —Anonymous
“Last year’s resolution was to lose 20 pounds by Christmas. Only 30 pounds to go.” —Anonymous
“I’m trying to enjoy all the good food I can so I can add ‘trying to lose weight’ to my New Year’s resolution list.” —Anonymous
“The more specific you are about your resolution, the better your chance of sticking with it. Don’t just say, “I want to lose weight.” Say, “When my arm jiggles, I want it to look less like a pelican’s throat-pouch choking down a bass.” ―Colin Nissan
Bad habits over good
“A sparkly new year to start fresh on old bad habits.” —Anonymous
“I hope you start the New Year by leaving your old bad habits and acquiring new bad ones.” —Anonymous
“I can’t believe it has been an entire year since I resolved to become a better person and then did nothing about it.” —Anonymous
“Cheers to another year of resolutions we won’t finish.” —Anonymous
Satire galore
“A new year, and a new opportunity to repeat old mistakes in innovative new ways.” —Anonymous
“Cheers to another year of resolutions we won’t finish.” —Anonymous
“My New Year resolutions:
1. Stop procrastinating so much
2. I’ll post the rest tomorrow or whenever” —Anonymous
Eerie relatability
“To a new year full of new possibilities, even though I’m sure we’ll just do the same old stuff anyway.” —Anonymous
“It wouldn’t be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets.” —William Thomas
“They say the New Year is a blank book, but I have writer’s block.” —Anonymous
On lifestyle changes (or lack thereof)
“My New Year’s resolution is to stop lying to myself about making lifestyle changes.” —Anonymous
“My New Year’s resolution is to dream more. I guess that means I’ll need to sleep a lot.” —Anonymous
“My new year resolution? Buy more shoes, drink more wine, and don’t worry about the gym. I can do this.” —Anonymous
Timing is everything
“By now it’s March, and it’s too late to start another New Year’s resolution. Everyone knows you can’t start something new in March!” —Miranda Hart
“I usually make resolutions when I am drunk; that way, I never remember them.” —Anonymous
Why change is challenging
“The new year is a time to start afresh, to start things all over again, but you realize things are too complicated and you can’t start.” —Anonymous
“The problem with resolutions is they’re only as solid as the person making them.” —Ellen Hopkins, Crank (Get the book here.)
“Resolutions are most often empty promises for those who have an abundance of dreams but refuse to wake up and live them.” —Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience (Get the book here.)
“It is a new day, new month, new year, but it isn’t a new you. You are the same person dealing with the same problems that you cannot dispatch by tearing off the calendar page.” ―Thomm Quackenbush, A Creature Was Stirring (Get the book here.)
“A study of New Year’s resolutions found that 25 percent of the study’s participants abandoned their New Year’s resolutions after fifteen weeks. Fast-forward to 1989, and 25 percent of people were abandoning their resolutions after only one week.” ―Amy Morin, 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success (Get the book here.)
“One reason new year resolutions don’t work is because we expect too much from ourselves.” ―Asuni LadyZeal
“One of the most irritating conversations I’ve had is with people who lecture me on how I should behave. Most of us know pretty much how we should behave. It is the execution that is the problem, not the absence of knowledge. I am tired of the moralizing slow-thinkers who pound me with platitudes like I should floss daily, eat my regular apple, and visit the gym outside of the New Year’s resolution. In the markets the recommendation would be to ignore the noise component in the performance. We need tricks to get us there but before that we need to accept the fact that we are mere animals in need of lower forms of tricks, not lectures.” ―Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Get the book here.)
“If you’re going to start a new habit, don’t try to overhaul your life at the same time.” —Roy F Baumeister
We are like this only
“It’s a new day, new month, new year, but it isn’t a new you.” —Thomm Quackenbush
“Most people fail in their desire for change because they lack the personal motivation or inspiration to maintain the discipline necessary to affect change in their lives.” ―Ken Poirot
“You can change the year, not the mentality of people.” —Nitya Prakash
“Mostly people just went around saying, ‘Why not?’ and, later on, when it came time to act, saying, ‘It’s too hard,’ without ever actually doing anything.” ―Tao Lin, Eeeee Eee Eeee (Get the book here.)
Why New Year’s resolutions fail
“Happy New Year!
Spoiler alert—it’s going to feel the same.” —Anonymous
“New years are like pages in a book that’s so boring. You always think that the next page will be interesting, but it turns out to be the same every time.” —Anonymous
“The average person quits a new habit because it becomes rather difficult to maintain. This is really why new years resolutions fail because people don’t factor in the pain and directionless feeling into the habits. They tunnel vision themselves on the end-point.” ―Alex Altman, Warning Adults Only: The 9 Daily Success Habits That Indirectly Make You More Sexual, Attract The Opposite Sex Effortlessly, Get More Sex & Walk Around ... and Dating Advice for Men Book 6
Some deep philosophy
“It has never been matter of wonder to me that human resolutions are liable to change; one passion gives them birth, another may destroy them.” ―Antoine François Prévost, Manon Lescaut (Get the book here.)
“It’s not about making a list. It’s about making a difference in your own life.” —Anonymous
“Especially the deep, post-holiday extremes of late January and February, when, no longer buoyed by festivities and merriments, you’re confronted with the empty expanse of a new year, discarded resolutions in your wake, resigned to your own inability to change.” ―Ling Ma
“I will do it tomorrow. How often we all do so and what a pity it is that when morning comes and tomorrow is today we so frequently wake up feeling quite differently. Careless or impatient and not a bit inclined to do the fine things we planned to do overnight.” ―Susan Coolidge, What Katy Did (Get the book here.)
Image: gleb_guralnyk | Freepik
Did someone say authentic growth?
“Don’t make empty resolutions about this or that external little thing—make one huge resolution to give yourself to yourself. Then everything else will quite effortlessly fall into place.” —Jay Woodman
“True change starts from within, not from a calendar date.” —Anonymous
“Your willpower isn’t enough to police your desires. If it were, resolutions would work.” —David Brooks
“Resolutions don’t work because they focus on outer change without addressing inner change.” —Anonymous
When misguidance meets resolutions
“To bring home the point, she compared New Year’s resolutions of girls at the end of the nineteenth century with those at the end of the twentieth. Here’s what a young woman of yore wrote:
Resolved: to think before speaking. To work seriously. To be self-restrained in conversations and actions. Not to let my thoughts wander. To be dignified. Interest myself more in others.
And the contemporary girl:
I will try to make myself better in any way [sic] i possibly can ... I will lose weight, get new lenses, already got new haircut, good makeup, new clothes and accessories.” ―Peggy Orenstein, Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture (Get the book here.)
“A fool’s plans are entertainment for the wise.” —Mokokoma Mokhonoana
And finally, thoughts on timeless growth
“Just because the dates change, does not mean you have to change. The continuous path towards self-improvement is a timeless process.” ―Brittany Burgunder
“We think in years—How was this year, what’s your New Year’s resolution, I’m so glad to see this year gone—but it’s really the hours that change us.” ―Jacqueline Bublitz, Before You Knew My Name (Get the book here.)
“While they’re making resolutions, you’re setting behaviors.” ―Steve Maraboli
Bonus: It’s too much work
“For a change, don't add new things in your life as a new year’s resolution. Instead, do more of what's already working for you and stop doing things that are (sic) time-waste.” ―Salil Jha
“I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticising, sanctioning and moulding my life, is too much of a daily event for me. ” ―Anaïs Nin
“Above all, don’t make a list of New Year’s resolutions. Each January 1, millions of people drag themselves out of bed, full of hope or hangover, resolved to eat less, exercise more, spend less money, work harder at the office, keep the home cleaner, and still miraculously have more time for romantic dinners and long walks on the beach. By February 1, they’re embarrassed to even look at the list. But instead of lamenting their lack of willpower, they should put the blame where it belongs: on the list. No one has enough willpower for that list. If you’re going to start a new physical exercise program, don’t try to overhaul your finances at the same time. If you’re going to need your energy for a new job—like, say, the presidency of the United States—then this probably isn’t the ideal time to go cold turkey on cigarettes. Because you have only one supply of willpower, the different New Year’s resolutions all compete with one another. Each time you try to follow one, you reduce your capacity for all the others.” ―Roy F Baumeister, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength (Get the book here.)
“I’m resolving to just wing it and see what happens.” ―Bill Watterson
Noteworthy additions
“Resolutions are promises we break to ourselves. Make commitments instead.” —Anonymous
“You can’t change habits by writing them down once a year.” —Jon Acuff
“Life is not always about making lists of resolutions and all the things you wish to do; instead, it’s about finding gratitude …” ―Courtney Peppernell, The Way Back Home (Get the book here.)
“Electricity and the lightbulb we invented without bullet journals. New modes of transportation like the locomotive train … were created without New Year’s resolutions. It makes me feel bad for Alexander Hamilton or Mozart—if only they would’ve known about goal setting.” ―Jefferson Bethke, To Hell with the Hustle (Get the book here.)
“‘What is really going to make you happier and healthier?’ she wondered at the start of 2018, presenting her latest research findings. ‘Losing ten pounds or losing harmful attitudes about your body?’ And when people feel less pressure about how their bodies look, it’s not just minds that benefit, but bodies, too. ‘When people feel good about their bodies, they are more likely to take better care of themselves rather than treating their bodies like an enemy, or even worse, an object. That’s a powerful reason to rethink the kind of New Year’s resolutions we make.’” ―Matt Haig, Notes on a Nervous Planet (Get the book here.)
“You can never make this New Year ... your best year because your best year is always the year you were born.” —Mehmet Murat Ildan
“January sees a plethora of self-help courses, webinars, blog posts, and other venues that emphasize how goals and/or resolutions will lead to success if we can manage not to break them or throw out the goals. There’s nothing wrong with these things, except too many times we forget to include God in our plans.” ―Various, Daily Wisdom for Women 2015 Devotional Collection—January
“January 17th is celebrated as ‘Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day’.” ―SV Mitra, 1,200 Facts to Interest & Entertain You (Get the book here.)
And some more…
“The funniest part of a new year is making new resolutions. I am pretty sure you have one too. Let me know about your resolution, and I’ll try not to laugh as I did in the last year.” —Anonymous
“This year, I resolve to remember why I came into the room.” —Anonymous
“It’s officially New Year’s Eve. You only have a couple of hours to do all the things you will resolve not to do in the new year.” —Anonymous
“Today is the very busy day of the year as I am working really hard to create some rules for the new year, not for the reason that I follow, just because I love breaking rules!” ―Atlas Gondal
“Call it “the New Year’s resolution effect”—it’s why gyms that were crowded in January are only half full in July and why so many slightly used guitars are available on Craigslist.” ―Anders Ericsson, Peak: Secrets From The New Science of Expertise (Get the book here.)
“By now it’s March, and it’s too late to start another new year’s resolution: you’ll simply have to wait until December 31st again. Everybody knows you can’t start something new in March. That would be ridiculous. Similar to starting a diet on a Thursday. Madness. (All diets start on a Monday, as on the Thursday before you start you have to eat everything out of your fridge and cupboards for the following Monday. It’s a marvellous system.)”―Miranda Hart, Is It Just Me? (Get the book here.)
“People treat New Year’s like some sort of life-changing event. If your life sucked last year, it’s probably still going to suck tomorrow.” —Anonymous
“August is a gentle reminder for not doing a single thing from your new year resolution for seven months and not doing it for next five.” ―Crestless Wave
“As my last New Year’s resolution, I had stopped selling people things I didn’t think they should buy. For Lent, I had given up my New Year’s resolution.” ―Michael Lewis, Liar’s Poker (Get the book here.)
“May you become smart enough to realize that resolutions don’t come true.” —Anonymous
Moral of the story: While New Year’s resolutions may be a time-honoured tradition, these quotes remind us that real growth doesn’t depend on 1 January. It’s about finding what works for you, every single day.
So, this year, ditch the pressure and embrace your unique path. And if you’re still tempted to make resolutions, remember Aleister Crowley’s words “May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early!”
On this note, here's wishing you...
What’s your take on New Year’s resolutions? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Note: A part of this post was generated using ChatGPT.
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