September Quotes to Welcome the New Season

September quotes for a new month and a changing season—a few lovely reminders to slow down, notice the little things, and think about what you want the rest of the year to hold.

August 17, 2026 | The Unscripted Femme

I always think September feels a little like a second January.

Not in a motivating kind of way. More like a quiet little reset. Summer is winding down, routines are coming back, and you start thinking about what you want the rest of the year to feel like.

If you’re looking for a few simple ways to settle into the season, I put together a September seasonal living list with some of the little things I’m always loving this time of year.

So, a few September quotes I love:

1. “September is the other January.”
— Gretchen Rubin

2. “All the months are crude experiments, out of which the perfect September is made.”
— Virginia Woolf, A Passionate Apprentice

I love the idea that every season has something to teach us. I’ve written a little more about that in 6 Nature-Inspired Slow Living Lessons.

3. “Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul.”
— Peggy Toney Horton

4. “By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.”
— Helen Hunt Jackson
You can read Helen Hunt Jackson’s full poem September here.

5. “September tries its best to have us forget summer.”
— Bernard Williams

6. “Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.”
— J. K. Rowling

7. “The windows are open, admitting the September breeze: a month that smells like notepaper and pencil shavings, autumn leaves and car oil. A month that smells like progress and moving on.”
— Lauren Oliver, Vanishing Girls

8. “I love September, especially when we’re in it.”
— Willie Stargell

9. “And then the sun took a step back, the leaves lulled themselves to sleep, and autumn was awakened.”
— Raquel Franco

10. “I guess I’m just feeling September-ish… All the trees change color, the days get very clear—with a little smoke on the horizon from burning leaves. Pumpkins begin to come out.”
— George Selden

11. “Wine is the divine juice of September.”
— Voltaire

12. “But the days grow short when you reach September.”
— Maxwell Anderson

13. “There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that it is all about to end.”
— Sharyn McCrumb

14. “Another fall, another turned page.”
— Wallace Stegner

Maybe that’s the lovely thing about September.

You don’t have to start over. You can simply turn the page.

Xxoo