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The New Year Quote by Catherine O'Hara

"I know. I'm lazy. But I made myself a New Year's resolution that I would write myself something really special. Which means I have 'til December, right?"

About this Quote

Catherine O'Hara’s joke lands because it treats self-improvement like a loophole-friendly contract, not a sacred vow. She opens with a blunt confession - “I’m lazy” - then immediately reframes laziness as pragmatism. That pivot is the engine of the line: we recognize the dodge even as we admire its slickness. The resolution becomes less about change than about buying time, a comic portrait of how adults narrate their own procrastination as a kind of strategy.

The subtext is a small, knowing rebellion against the culture of annual reinvention. New Year’s resolutions are marketed as fresh starts, but O’Hara points to the quieter truth: the calendar can be an alibi. “I have ‘til December, right?” turns the whole ritual into a scheduling gag, exposing how easily motivation gets outsourced to future versions of ourselves. The laugh comes from cognitive dissonance - she’s technically correct, emotionally ridiculous, and fully aware of it.

Context matters: O’Hara’s persona across decades (from sketch comedy to her later, warmly exasperated characters) is built on precision timing and self-aware vulnerability. This is classic O’Hara energy: candid, slightly frazzled, and socially fluent enough to confess a flaw without begging forgiveness. It also reads as a wink at creative pressure. “Something really special” is both ambition and avoidance - the bigger the promise to yourself, the easier it is to delay starting.

Quote Details

TopicWitty One-Liners
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
O'Hara, Catherine. (2026, February 16). I know. I'm lazy. But I made myself a New Year's resolution that I would write myself something really special. Which means I have 'til December, right? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-know-im-lazy-but-i-made-myself-a-new-years-136254/

Chicago Style
O'Hara, Catherine. "I know. I'm lazy. But I made myself a New Year's resolution that I would write myself something really special. Which means I have 'til December, right?" FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-know-im-lazy-but-i-made-myself-a-new-years-136254/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I know. I'm lazy. But I made myself a New Year's resolution that I would write myself something really special. Which means I have 'til December, right?" FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-know-im-lazy-but-i-made-myself-a-new-years-136254/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Catherine O'Hara

Catherine O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Actress from Canada.

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