“I dig old books.” ™ Est. 1998
Quotations for Groundhog Day Related Quotes Weather Winter Spring February
Welcome to my page of quotations for Groundhog Day. Over the years I've spent so many hours digging around (ha!) lots in old books trying to find as many quotable references to the day as I can and I've managed to unearth (giggle) quite the collection of vintage verses and excerpts, with a few modern ones as well. Okay, ready to get to the quotes? Gopher it! If ground-hog day was bright and fair, The beast came forth, but not to stay; His shadow turned him to his lair, Where six weeks more, he dormant lay Secure in subterranean hold— So wondrous weatherwise was he— Against six weeks of ice and cold, Which, very certain, there would be... ~H.L. Fisher, "Popular Superstitions," Olden Times: or, Pennsylvania Rural Life, Some Fifty Years Ago, and Other Poems, 1888 To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. ~George Santayana Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while. ~Kin Hubbard Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours." ~Robert Byrne Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams Everybody who knew anything about ciphering was called in to consider it. A young man from a high school near here, who made a specialty of mathematics and pimples, and who could readily tell how long a shadow a nine-pound ground-hog would cast at 2 o'clock and 37 minutes P.M., on ground-hog day, if sunny, at the town of Fungus, Dak., provided latitude and longitude and an irregular mass of red chalk be given to him, was secured to jerk a few logarithms in the interests of trade. He came and tried it for a few days, covered the interior of the Exposition Building with figures and then went away. ~Bill Nye, "Seeking to be Identified," Nye and Riley's Railway Guide by Edgar W. Nye and James Whitcomb Riley, 1888 In America, paying due deference to the creature's importance is our national mythology, it is left to the ground-hog to decide the day, and so the fate of the season. He is supposed to come out of his hole on that day, and take a look at the world. If it is a bright day, he will see his shadow on the ground, and, taking fright at it, will run back into his home and stay there. A fresh attack of winter will set in, and he will be justified in the steps he has taken. If it is cloudy, he will cast no shadow, take no fright, and gives us no further attack of winter. ~Hartford Courant, 1877 February 3rd Whereas, Today, the 2nd day of February, is the genuine, original and undisputed ground-hog day of our ancestors, handed down to posterity for many generations; and Whereas, the same has not been legally recognized by any legislative enactment appearing on our Statutes; and Whereas, We consider it almost an unpardonable oversight in the party which has for so many years administered the affairs of this State; therefore, be it Resolved, That we, the representative men of this State, filled with patriotism and love for the prognosticator of the weather, recognize this day as "Ground-hog day," and that legal enactment should fix the date, the 2nd of February, which shall forever remain without defalcation or discount, as Ground-hog day, never to be changed by constitutional amendments or acts of any Legislature of this State. ~Journal of the House of Representatives of the 38th General Assembly (Regular Session) of the State of Missouri, Twenty-Fifth Day, Saturday, February 2, 1895 It's a freakin' holiday entirely based on the power of a psychic rodent. If that isn't the epitome of awesome, I don't know what is. ~Flying LlamaFish, "7 Reasons Groundhog Day is the Ultimate Holiday," 2010, PunIntended.com In European folk-lore, the bear is the Candlemas weather-prophet. ~John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States, 1877 Look, friends, don't you see a swallow? The herald of spring. ~Aristophanes, 424 B.C. ["One swallow will not make spring, nor one bee honey," says the old proverb. It derives from Aesop's fable of The Spendthrift and the Swallow. "A few warm days in winter brought a swallow from its hiding-place, and a young prodigal seeing it, sold his cloack and spent the proceeds in riotous living. But the frost returned, and he discovered, to his sorrow that 'one swallow does not make summer.'" Per Burton E. Stevenson. One fair day in winter makes not birds merry. ~George Herbert, c.1640 Every mile is two in winter. ~George Herbert Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
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