15 Refreshing Quotes About Summer

The sun is shining, the butterflies are flittering around, and the beaches are filled with kids making sandcastles. Summer is the season filled with vacations, getting outside, and adventures. Sure, sometimes it can be way too hot—but there’s something absolutely enjoyable about being in the sun. Here are 20 energizing quotes from famous authors, musicians, and more about this magical time of the year.

1. "In summer, the song sings itself."

—William Carlos Williams, poet and physician, from "The Botticellian Trees"

2. "Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

—Henry James, author, from A Backward Glance by Edith Wharton

3. “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.”

—Jenny Han, author, from The Summer I Turned Pretty

4. “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

—Sir John Lubbock, scientist, from The Use of Life

5. "A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawnmower is broken."

—James Dent, author, from Hops and History: American History and Folklore as Remembered by American Breweries and Beers

6. “'Cause a little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about.”

—John Mayer, singer, from "Wildfire"

7. “In the summertime, when the weather is hot, you can reach right up and touch the sky.”

—Mungo Jerry, musician, from "In The Summertime"

8. “It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”

—Maud Hart Lovelace, author, from Betsy-Tacy and Tib

9. "In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible."

—Sarah Dessen, author, from Along for the Ride

10. “He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.”

—John Burroughs, conservationist, from In the Catskills

11. “Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.”

—Langston Hughes, poet, from The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs

12. “Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon.”

—Cecil Day-Lewis, poet, from "From Feathers To Iron"

13. “We know summer is the height of being alive.”

—Gary Shteyngart, author, from Super Sad True Love Story

14. “I long for salt air in my hair.”

—Katie Daisy, artist, original artwork

15. “Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the tree house; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape.”

—Harper Lee, author, from To Kill A Mockingbird