Through the eyes of Paula...

Summer is a beautiful, inspiring time of year for people, because nature is in full bloom, animals are lively, and the whole world is bustling with activity and excitement. Such beauty can spark contemplation and introspection among those who marvel at the world around them. Below are some evocative literary quotes about summer that express various qualities of the summertime and inspire readers to reflect on the season.

1. “It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” ―Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy-Tacy and Tib

2. “When people went on vacation, they shed their home skins, thought they could be a new person.” ―Aimee Friedman, Sea Change

3. “In early June, the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.” – John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

4. “Life, now, was unfolding before me, constantly and visibly, like the flowers of summer that drop fanlike petals on eternal soil.” ―Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

5. “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, Along for the Ride

6. “The summer night is like a perfection of thought.” – Wallace Stevens, The House was Quiet and the World was Calm

7. “The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake, the satin-green lawns rippled occasionally in a gentle breeze: June had arrived.” ―J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

8. “The morning heat had already soaked through the walls, rising up from the floor like a ghost of summers past.” ―Erik Tomblin, Riverside Blues

9. “The summer night was settling upon the neighborhood like a dark lace veil, casting dappled shadows on the roofs and sidewalks and lawns.” ―Victoria Kahler, Luisa Across the Bay

10. “The spring rains woke the dormant tillers, and bright green shoots sprang from the moist earth and rose like sleepers stretching after a long nap. As spring gave way to summer, the bright green stalks darkened, became tan, turned golden brown. The days grew long and hot. Thick towers of swirling black clouds brought rain, and the brown stems glistened in the perpetual twilight that dwelled beneath the canopy. The wheat rose and the ripening heads bent in the prairie wind, a rippling curtain, an endless, undulating sea that stretched to the horizon.” ―Rick Yancey, The Infinite Sea

11. “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, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

12. “Spring flew swiftly by, and summer came; and if the village had been beautiful at first, it was now in the full glow and luxuriance of its richness. The great trees, which had looked shrunken and bare in the earlier months, had now burst into strong life and health; and stretching forth their green arms over the thirsty ground, converted open and naked spots into choice nooks, where was a deep and pleasant shade from which to look upon the wide prospect, steeped in sunshine, which lay stretched out beyond. The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green; and shed her richest perfumes abroad. It was the prime and vigour of the year; all things were glad and flourishing.” —Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

13. “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, The Use Of Life

14. “All in all, it was a never to be forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” —L.M. Montgomery, Anne’s House of Dreams