Lunar New Year

Key Facts (Dates for 2026/2027)

History & Significance

The Wisdom Vault: Quotes for Luck— Hope & New Beginnings

Use these for Lunar New Year cards, hongbao notes— Instagram captions, speeches, and family toasts, especially when you want your message to feel timeless.

Fresh Starts & New Beginnings

"The sun is new each day"

— Heraclitus

"With the possible exception of the equator, everything begins somewhere"

— C. S. Lewis

"Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon"

— Emily Dickinson

"The future is always beginning now"

— Mark Strand

"The future starts today, not tomorrow"

— Pope John Paul II

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another"

— John Dewey

"Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress"

— Charles F. Kettering

"Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down"

— Mary Pickford

Hope— Courage & Resilience

"Hope is a waking dream"

— Aristotle

"I have seen what a laugh can do. It can transform almost unbearable tears into something bearable, even hopeful"

— Bob Hope

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty"

— Mahatma Gandhi

"A man of courage flees forward, in the midst of new things"

— Jacques Maritain

"It's best to have failure happen early in life. It wakes up the Phoenix bird in you so you rise from the ashes"

— Anne Baxter

"Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great"

— Rose Kennedy

"Weak minds sink under prosperity as well as adversity; but strong and deep ones have two high tides"

— David Hare

"He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool"

— Albert Camus

Change— Time & The Future

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future"

— John F. Kennedy

"Change, when it comes, cracks everything open"

— Dorothy Allison

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me"

— Steve Jobs

"The past is a memory, the future is a fantasy. The real, vibrant, creative moment is now"

— Wayne Shorter

"There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in"

— Graham Greene

"We come to beginnings only at the end"

— William Throsby Bridges

"High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation"

— Charles F. Kettering

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other"

— Abraham Lincoln

Prosperity— Preparation & A Little New Year Humor

"Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life"

— Wayne Dyer

"Any person who contributes to prosperity must prosper in turn"

— Earl Nightingale

"Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure"

— Confucius

"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man"

— Benjamin Franklin

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves"

— Bill Vaughan

"Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn't it, of a long line of proven criminals?"

— Ogden Nash

The "Wishes Engine": Lunar New Year Messages for 2026

Pick a category, copy a line, and personalize it with a name. Many of these work perfectly as red envelope captions (hongbao), card notes, and quick texts for the Year of the Horse.

Celebration Ideas (Simple— Meaningful— Festive)

• Host a "reunion dinner" night (even if virtual) and have everyone share one gratitude and one intention for 2026.
• Do a quick pre–New Year tidy-up, then open windows for a few minutes to welcome fresh air and fresh energy.
• Write mini hongbao notes: one line of blessing + one specific compliment for each person receiving an envelope.
• Create a prosperity bowl: oranges/mandarins, red paper, and a handwritten wish for health and success placed in the center of your home.
• Plan a "lucky foods" potluck, dumplings, long noodles, sweet rice cake, and label each dish with what it symbolizes.