A toast to the new year: Some wise words to enlighten, entertain … and inspire you to make the most of 2026
Here’s a toast to the promise of a new year. Champagne, beer, ginger ale — choose your favorite drink to mark the start of another 12-month trip.
We all look forward to 2026. It will provide 365 chances to do well, to cherish our loved ones, work with our colleagues, forgive those who irritate us, and seek to live happier and more content lives.
Yes, we will face challenges. There will be cold days and snow, hot spells and heavy rains, flat tires and blown fuses, sadness and shocks. But there also will be smiles and laughter, opportunities and ideas, joy and fulfillment.
I expect difficult moments this year, and hope for happy ones to balance the books. All we can do is venture forth, dealing with the rough times we face and enjoying the good moments.
TV host Oprah Winfrey has the right attitude, in my opinion.
“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right,” Winfrey said.
Humorist Bill Vaughn had a wry comment about the end of one year and the start of another.
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in,” Vaughn wrote. “A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”
I recommend the optimistic point of view.
Writer, wit and wiseman Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, recommended we take a realistic outlook at our plans for becoming a better person.
“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions,” Twain wrote. “Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”
He was, as always, funny and acerbic. While it’s worth noting that the earnest pledges of Jan. 1 often don’t survive the pressure and temptations of the year, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aspire to improve yourself and your life. Twain wasn’t always right, you know.
I am inspired by this quote from the great evangelist Billy Graham. Seeing him in Portland during a crusade in 1992 was a very moving and memorable experience.
“People by nature build, tear down, and rebuild. We build our hopes, get disappointed, and then search for renewed hope. That is why we are fond of New Year’s resolutions,” he wrote. “Faith in God calls for building from the inside out. There is no sense in working on the outside if the inside is rotten.”
Inventor, publisher, diplomat and scientist Benjamin Franklin, typically offered sage advice about the dawn of a new year.
“Be at war with your vices, at Peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man,” Franklin wrote.
Finally, I urge you to consider the thoughts of perhaps the most brilliant person to ever live, Albert Einstein.
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Happy 2026!
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: celebrating New Year 1910, public domain, wikimedia commons
The South Dakota Standard is offered freely and is supported by our readers. We have no political or commercial sponsorship. If you'd like to help us continue our mission to advance independent political and social commentary, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate" button that's on the sidebar to your right.
