Summer Solstice Quotes for the Longest Day of the Year

A summer solstice quote marks the longest day of the year, which falls on June 20 or 21 in the Northern Hemisphere. The line that fits it most closely comes from Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby: “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.”

The next Northern Hemisphere summer solstice is Monday, June 21, 2027, at 14:11 UTC, which is 10:11 a.m. Eastern time. South of the equator the seasons are reversed, so the summer solstice there falls in December, on December 21 in 2026.

Summer solstice quotes from books

“In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.” — Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), Chapter 1. She says it while snapping out the candles on the table, and the “watch for the longest day” line comes right after. Jordan Baker’s answer is a yawned “We ought to plan something.”

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees—just as things grow in fast movies—I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” — Nick Carraway, also in Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby.

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” — Henry James, as remembered by his friend Edith Wharton in her memoir A Backward Glance (1934).

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” — Henry David Thoreau, journal entry for August 23, 1853.

“And what is so rare as a day in June? / Then, if ever, come perfect days” — James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal, 1848.

Shakespeare quotes for midsummer

The title A Midsummer Night’s Dream points to Midsummer Eve, June 23, the old festival night that followed the solstice. The play itself mentions May Day rites, so the action seems to happen earlier in the year, but its lines are a natural fit for a midsummer card or caption.

“The course of true love never did run smooth.” — Lysander, Act 1, Scene 1.

“Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.” — Oberon, Act 2, Scene 1.

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” — Puck, Act 3, Scene 2.

“And though she be but little, she is fierce.” — Helena, Act 3, Scene 2.

“If we shadows have offended, / Think but this, and all is mended” — Puck’s epilogue at the end of the play.

Two more from elsewhere in Shakespeare. Sonnet 18 opens with “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and includes the line “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” In Twelfth Night, Olivia watches Malvolio grinning in yellow stockings and says, “Why, this is very midsummer madness” (Act 3, Scene 4). Midsummer madness was the old belief that the midsummer moon could make people act strangely.

Short summer solstice captions

These are unattributed, so they need no credit.

“Longest day, shortest night. Stay out for both.”

“The sun stood still today, and so did we.”

“Maximum daylight, minimum plans.”

“Happy solstice. Dinner’s outside.”

“From here the days get shorter, so we’re making this one long.”

What the summer solstice is

The solstice is the moment the sun reaches its farthest point north, directly over the Tropic of Cancer. It gives the Northern Hemisphere its longest day of the year. London gets about 16 and a half hours of daylight on the solstice, and New York gets about 15.

The word comes from the Latin sol, meaning sun, and sistere, meaning to stand still. Around the solstice, the sun’s path across the sky seems to stop moving north for a few days before it turns back.

At Stonehenge, the sun rises behind the Heel Stone on the summer solstice, and English Heritage opens the site to visitors for the solstice sunrise. In Sweden, Midsummer Eve is celebrated on the Friday between June 19 and 25, with maypoles and flower crowns.

Some modern pagans call the summer solstice Litha. The name was adopted in the 1970s from the Old English month names Ærra Liða and Æfterra Liða, roughly June and July, which the monk Bede recorded in the 700s.

Quoting these in an essay or card

For an essay, Shakespeare quotes need the act and scene, and poem quotes use a slash where the line breaks, as in the Lowell and Puck quotes above. Our guides on how to quote Shakespeare and how to quote lines from a poem cover both formats.

If the solstice lines up with the last week of classes where you are, our end of school year quotes cover that moment.

FAQ

When is the summer solstice in 2027?

Monday, June 21, 2027, at 14:11 UTC (10:11 a.m. EDT) in the Northern Hemisphere.

What is a good quote for the summer solstice?

Daisy’s line from The Great Gatsby, “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it?”, is about the solstice itself. For something shorter, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 works in a caption.

Is A Midsummer Night’s Dream set on the solstice?

Not exactly. The title refers to Midsummer, but the characters talk about May Day rites, so the action seems to take place around the start of May.

What does “solstice” mean?

“Sun stands still,” from the Latin sol and sistere.

Is the summer solstice the hottest day of the year?

Usually not. Land and oceans keep warming for weeks after the solstice, so the hottest days in the Northern Hemisphere tend to come in July or August.