The best literary quotes about Christmas

Hang all the mistletoe, deck those halls and bring out the figgy pudding... yes, the festive season is here. They say it's the most wonderful time of the year and it seems like these authors agree too. From heartwarming words of wisdom to amusing quips, these literary Christmas quotes will have you feeling merry and bright in no time.

Jane Austen, Emma:

“At Christmas every body invites their friends about them, and people think little of even the worst weather. I was snowed up at a friend’s house once for a week. Nothing could be pleasanter.“

Maya Angelou:

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

Nick Hornby, About A Boy:

“It struck him that how you spent Christmas was a message to the world about where you were in life.”

Roald Dahl:

“Where art thou, Mother Christmas?
I only wish I knew
Why Father should get all the praise
And no-one mentions you”

Stella Gibbons, Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm:

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

Anthony Trollope, Orley Farm:

”I ask you to answer me fairly: is not additional eating an ordinary Englishman’s ordinary idea of Christmas day?”

Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?:

“Most kids grow up leaving something out for Santa at Christmas time when he comes down the chimney. I used to make presents for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit:

“It being Christmas eve, there was, as I had forseen, a great deal of revelry and what not.”

Tove Jansson:

“Christmas always rustled. It rustled every time, mysteriously, with silver and gold paper, tissue paper and a rich abundance of shiny paper, decorating and hiding everything and giving a feeling reckless extravagance.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss:

“Fine old Christmas, with the snowy hair and ruddy face, had done his duty that year in the noblest fashion, and had set off his rich gifts of warmth and color with all the heightening contrast of frost and snow.”

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.“