MARCH: THE MONTH OF CHANGE AND IRISH LUCK
According to the western calendar, the first day of spring falls on the 20th of March, a month that usually feels quite chilly, so during March, we begin living in Springtime while feeling that winter has not yet ended. Many who write about the month examine this two-sided quality by describing variable aspects of nature like cold weather changing to warm then back to cold, flowers starting to bud then being covered with snow, and gray skies turning blue then back to gray in a single day. If only Mother Nature would arrange for more regular spring-like conditions throughout March, we’d all be happier. But, as many commentators note, the month’s weather is unpredictable, and hopes of spring are often dashed by a sudden return to winter.
However, despite its unpredictability, March can be seen as one of the cheeriest months of the year. Flowers and trees are budding, spring is on the way, and the major holiday, St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, offers a day-long party with no gifts and little stress. St. Patrick’s Day honors the Irish people and culture as well as a man who was not even Irish. St. Patrick, although born in Britain, came to embody Irish kindness, love, and wit through his devotion to Ireland and his work in freeing its people from paganism. Thus, he became an Irishman in spirit and was honored with a special day.
The first collection of quotes below relates to the qualities of March and its weather, as the authors describe the varied conditions that exist during the month from day to day or even in a single day. One writer compares the ups and downs of March to the variability of human life. Another describes March as “the month of expectation,” while yet another portrays it as both hopeful and frustrating. What are your feelings on the many-sided month of March? The second group of quotes relates to St. Patrick’s Day.
Hopefully, you’ll find pearls of wisdom, sources of inspiration, and touches of humor among these observations, which can be posted on your whiteboard wall to motivate you while working from home to provide a laugh, or to teach your children in the home school setting. According to psychologist and motivation expert Dr. Jonathan Fader, reading stimulating quotes can positively affect people who are open to upbeat messages that have strong images and appeal to their optimistic natures. So, to uplift your mood and help you think about aspects of your life that you might want to change, your whiteboard wall can serve as a posting area. Try regularly writing down three to seven of the quotes that best resonate with your work-from-home or home school goals and agenda. With any luck, you’ll get some food for thought, a touch of humor, and a bit of personal encouragement in the process.
On the Qualities of March and its Weather
“Here we stand in the no-man’s-land between winter and spring … in other words, March. Full of hope and frustration, March is tempestuous and teasing.” – Julie Hage (US writer and blogger)
“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson (19th century US essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet)
“March is the Month of Expectation.
The things we do not know —
The Persons of prognostication
Are coming now.” ― Emily Dickinson (19th century US poet), March is the Month of Expectation.
“Only those with tenacity can march forward in March” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah (Ghanaian writer and a teacher)
“A windy March is lucky. Every pint of March dust brings a peck of September corn and a pound of October cotton.” — Julia Peterkin (Pulitzer Prize-winning US author)
“March, when days are getting long, Let thy growing hours be strong to set right some wintry wrong.” — Caroline May (19th-century English-American poet, editor, and literary critic)
“March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice.” ― Hal Borland (US author, journalist, and naturalist)
“A light exists in Spring
Not present in the year at
Any other period
When March is scarcely here.” ― Emily Dickinson (19th century US poet)
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” ― Charles Dickens (renowned 19th century English writer and social critic), Great Expectations.
“The stormy March has come at last, with winds and clouds and changing skies; I hear the rushing of the blast that through the snowy valley flies.” ― William C. Bryant (US poet and founder of the Republican Party)
“Earthquakes mean March. . .
The sun of this month cures all.
Therefore, old women say:
Let the sun of March shine on my daughter.”
― Anne Sexton (US poet), The Sermon of Twelve Acknowledgements.
“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.” ― Jean Hersey (US horticulturist and author)
“It was March. The days of March creeping gustily on like something that man couldn’t hinder and God wouldn’t hurry.” ― Enid Bagnold (British author and playwright)
“This is the perfume of March: rain, loam, feathers, mint.” ― Lisa Kleypas (US author of historical and contemporary romance novels)
“March, master of winds, bright minstrel and marshal of storms that enkindle the season they smite.” — Algernon Charles Swinburne (19th century English poet), March: An Ode
“One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw, is the spring.” ― Aldo Leopold (US author, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, and environmentalist)
“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.” ― Lewis Grizzard (US writer and humorist)
“Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes; the wind will presently disappear, the taxes last us all the year.” ― Ogden Nash (US poet known for his light verse)
“March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” ― English Proverb
REGARDING ST. PATRICK’S DAY
“The whole world is Irish on the seventeenth o’ March!” — Thomas Augustine Daly (Irish-American humorist, poet, and journalist)
“Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, but if your name is Eisenhower, you’ve got to wear something green to show it.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th President of the United States)
“St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time — a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.” — Adrienne Cook (US columnist and public speaker)
“The list of Irish saints is past counting, but in it all, no other figure is as human, friendly, and lovable as St. Patrick.” — Stephen Gwynn (Irish journalist, biographer, author, poet, and politician)
Whether it’s St. Patrick’s Day or not, everyone has a little luck o’ the Irish in them. — Laura Sommers (US author), Best Traditional Irish Recipes for St. Patrick’s Day
“The Irish celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in gratitude for the service he did them in bringing to the Irish their most priceless possession — the gift of faith.” — Therese Duffy (US educator)
“St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration filled with folklore, fantasy, food, and fun. From shamrocks and leprechauns to green food and drink, this is a holiday for all ages.” — Susanne Myers (US blogger), The Hillbilly Housewife, On St. Patrick’s Day Everyone Can Be Irish
“The Irish have gained a reputation over the centuries for being warm, kind, and hospitable. These characteristics are most in evidence at St. Patrick’s Day every year, when people of Irish descent organize parades and parties.” — Shannon Farrell (US television and film actress), St. Patrick’s Day Recipes
“May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.” – Traditional Irish Blessing
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