The 80 best Christmas quotes of all time (2023)

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, everyone was stirring because, dang, who isn't scrambling to get the presents wrapped and cookies baked in time?

Christmas has crept up even faster than normal this year and if you're still filling out holiday cards, you're not alone.

With so much to do before Ol' Saint Nick comes down the chimney, we're here to offer some assistance with your holiday to-do list. First up: this collection of Christmas quotes to use wherever you see fit.

In search of "Merry Christmas" wishes to mark the holiday or a festive caption to post on Instagram? Use one of these thoughtful quotes from Longfellow, Charles Dickens and other inspiring minds.

Or, if you'd rather keep things on the lighter side with a funny Christmas quote from a holiday movie like "Elf" or "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," we've got those too.

From religious sentiments to messages about the importance of family, we've got you covered, so you can wish a happy Christmas to all — and to all a good night.

Inspirational Christmas quotes

• "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." — Hamilton Wright Mabie
• "I heard the bells on Christmas Day / Their old familiar carols play." — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• "He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree." — Roy L. Smith
• "Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind." — Calvin Coolidge
• "Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl." — Bess Streeter Aldrich, "Song of Years"
• “Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.” — Edna Ferber
• “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year long.” — Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol”
• “Christmas, my child is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” — Dale Evans Rogers
• "Seeing isn’t believing; believing is seeing." — Judy, "Santa Claus 2"
• “Christmas is doing a little extra something for someone else.”—Charles M. Schultz
• “The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood.” — Richard Paul Evans
• “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” — Victor Hugo, "Les Misérables"
• “It’s easy to forget that life is the greatest gift of all.” — Karli Perrin, “The Gift”
• “The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." — Burton Hillis
• “There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.”—Kahlil Gibran, “On Giving"
• “Christmas magic is silent. You don’t hear it. You feel it. You know it. You remember it." — Kevin Alan Milne, "The Paper Bag Christmas"
• “Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting.” — Brian Tracy
• "A toy is never truly happy until it is loved by a child." — "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
• “What is Christmas? It is the tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace." — Agnes M. Pharo
• “Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.” — Dr. Seuss
• “Everyone can experience the joy and blessing of generosity; because everyone has something to give." — Jan Grace
• “Christmas is a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past. Today’s Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday." — Gladys Taber
• “Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a frame of mind.” — “Miracle on 34th Street”
• "I’mof the mind setyou can never do too muchtomakeachild’s Christmas magical." — Ted Maltin, "Jingle All the Way"
• “A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.” — Garrison Keillor
• “Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference.” — Kathy Calvin
• "There’s a certain magic that comes with the very first snow. For when the first snow is also a Christmas snow, well, something wonderful is bound to happen." — "Frosty the Snowman"
• "This bell is a wonderful symbol of the spirit of Christmas as am I. Just remember the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart." — Santa Claus, "The Polar Express"
• "“Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light. From now on your troubles will be out of sight." — Judy Garland, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
• "Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime." — Laura Ingalls Wilder
• "It’s Christmas Eve. It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be." — Frank Cross, "Scrooged"
• "The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting." — Louisa May Alcott

Funny Christmas quotes

• “What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.” — Phyllis Diller
• “I love Christmas. I receive a lot of wonderful presents I can’t wait to exchange.” — Henry Youngman
• “Christmas is a time when you get homesick — even when you’re home." — Carol Nelson
• “Santa Claus has the right idea: visit people once a year.” — Victor Borge
• “Christmas, here again. Let us raise a loving cup; Peace on earth, goodwill to men, and make them do the washing up.” — Wendy Cope
• “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” — Will Ferrell, “Elf”
• “The one thing woman don’t want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husbands." — Joan Rivers
• "Christmas sweaters are only acceptable as a cry for help.” — Andy Borowitz
• “The main reason why Santa is so jolly is that he knows where all the bad girls live.” — George Carlin
• “Nothing says holidays, like a cheese log." — Ellen DeGeneres
• “Let’s be naughty and save Santa the trip.” — Gary Allen, "Let's Be Naughty (and Save Santa the Trip)"
• “I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, ‘Toys not included.’” — Bernard Manning
• “Next to a circus there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit.” — Kin Hubbard
• “Christmas is a baby shower that totally went overboard.” — Andy Borowitz
• “That’s the true spirit of Christmas: people being helped by people other than me." — Jerry Seinfeld
• "Mail your packages earlyso the post office can lose them in time for Christmas." — Johnny Carson
• “One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books." — J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban”
• "Christmas: It’s the only religious holiday that’s also a federal holiday. That way, Christians can go to their services, and everyone else can sit at home and reflect on the true meaning of the separation of church and state." — Samantha Bee
• "You know you’re getting old when Santa starts looking younger." — Robert Paul

Christmas quotes about family

• “Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves." — Eric Sevareid
• “Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas." — Peg Bracken
• “One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Don’t clean it up too quickly." —Andy Rooney
• “Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality.” —Washington Irving
• “Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us." — David Cameron
• “A Yule log. It’s a wonderful tradition. One log is chosen, and everyone in the house touches it and makes a Christmas wish.”— Belle, “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas”
• “And you’re not sitting with the prefects today, either. Christmas is a time for family." — George Weasley, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone"
• “Christmas is a together sort of holiday.” — Pooh, "Winnie the Pooh"
• “ For me, the spirit of Christmas means being happy and giving freely. It’s a tradition for all the kids in the family to help mom decorate the tree. Christmas is all about family, eating, drinking, and making merry.” — Malaika Arora Khan
• “The spirit of the season never has to end as long as you keep your loved ones near, and the holiday wish in your heart." — Jiminy Cricket, “Holiday Wishes”
• “Some Christmas tree ornaments do more than glitter and glow, they represent a gift of love given a long time ago.” — Tom Bake
• “Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings, exchanged, of gift-giving, and of families united.” — Norman Vincent Peale
• “For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first.” — Queen Elizabeth II
• “Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.” — G.K Chesterton
• “Mankind is a great,immense family. This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.” — Pope John Paul XXIII
• “Don’t let the past steal the present. This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone.” — Taylor Caldwell
• “That is what Christmas should be about, I think — togetherness and playfulness. It’s like a game.”— Billy Howle
• “Christmas is a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.”— Freya Stark

Religious Christmas quotes

• “Faith is salted and peppered through everything at Christmas. And I love at least one night by the Christmas tree to sing and feel the quiet holiness of that time that’s set apart to celebrate love, friendship, and God’s gift of the Christ child.”— Amy Grant
• "The story of Christmas is the story of God’s relentless love for us." — Max Lucado
• "God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If He gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it." — Pope Francis
• "I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world." — Norman Vincent Peale
• "The very purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was that he might offer up his life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He came to die. This is the heart of Christmas." — Rev. Billy Graham
• "Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world." — C.S. Lewis
• "Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you." — Steve Maraboli, "Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience"
• "And when the Lord Jesus has become your peace, remember, there is another thing: good will towards men. Do not try to keep Christmas without good will towards men." — Charles Spurgeon
• "For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself." — Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"
• "We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice." — Pope Paul VI
• "The great challenge left to us is to cut through all the glitz and glam of the season that has grown increasingly secular and commercial, and be reminded of the beauty of the One who is Christmas." — Bill Crowder