There is a moment at almost every holiday gathering when the noise settles into something warm. The dishes are half cleared, someone is telling the story everyone has heard a hundred times, and the kids are giggling under the table. Nobody is checking their phone. For a few minutes, everyone is simply together. These togetherness quotes are about that feeling, and about the friends, family and kindred spirits who make it possible.
With Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November and the long holiday season right behind it, this is the time of year when we gather the most. It can also be the time when we feel the distance most, whether that is miles between us and the people we love or the quiet loneliness of a busy life. Every quote below comes from a real, checkable source, with the chapter, scene, essay, poem or verse listed so you can look it up yourself. You will find Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Thoreau and three generous moments from Charles Dickens.
We grouped these 15 togetherness quotes into three themes: family and holiday gatherings, friendship and kindred spirits, and belonging to something bigger than ourselves. Each one comes with a colorful Pinterest card and a short note on what it means. If you are building a holiday quote board, pair these with our Thanksgiving quotes and our cozy quotes about home.
What Research Says About Togetherness and Health
Feeling close to other people is not just nice. Health researchers say it can be good for you, too. The CDC notes that strong social ties are linked to a longer, healthier life, and says that staying connected to others can lower the chances of heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression and anxiety. It can also improve how well we manage stress and even how well we sleep.
Large studies point the same way. A well-known 2010 analysis in PLOS Medicine by Holt-Lunstad, Smith and Layton pooled 148 studies with 308,849 participants and found that stronger social relationships were linked to 50% higher odds of survival. And the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which has followed its participants for decades, found that warm, close relationships mattered more for lifelong happiness than money or fame did. As the study’s director, psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, put it, “tending to your relationships is a form of self-care too.”
So if you have been treating holiday plans with friends as optional extras on a crowded calendar, consider this your permission slip to make them a priority. Our guide on how to reconnect with loved ones over the holidays has easy ways to start.
15 Togetherness Quotes to Gather Your People Close This Season
Togetherness Quotes About Family and Holiday Gatherings
These five quotes capture the magic of a full table, from the March sisters by the fire to Tiny Tim’s famous blessing. They are perfect for place cards, toasts and holiday captions.
We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other.
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868), Chapter 1, “Playing Pilgrims” (Beth)
By the fire one December twilight, the four March sisters sit grumbling that Christmas will not feel like Christmas without presents. Then quiet Beth speaks up from her corner with this line, and the room brightens. Their father is away at war and money is tight, but Beth reminds them that they still have what matters most. If this year feels thin in some way, start your list of blessings with the people beside you.
…the season for gathering together of family connections, and drawing closer again those bands of kindred hearts…
Washington Irving, “Christmas,” from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819 to 1820)
Washington Irving wrote these words about Christmas, but they fit Thanksgiving just as well. He describes the holidays as a beautiful old tradition that pulls families back together after a year of being scattered by work, worries and busy lives. If you are flying, driving or just crossing town to be with your people this season, you are part of a very long, very human tradition.
God bless us every one!
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843), Stave 3 (Tiny Tim)
Five simple words from little Tiny Tim at the Cratchit family table. Their goose has to be eked out with apple sauce and mashed potatoes, and their house has only four rooms, but Tiny Tim’s blessing includes everyone. It is the perfect toast for a holiday meal, and a lovely reminder that a gathering does not need to be fancy to be full of love.
…it was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness…
Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836 to 1837), Chapter 28
This line opens the chapter in which Mr. Pickwick and his friends set off for Christmas at Dingley Dell, the farmhouse of their generous friend Mr. Wardle. Hospitality, merriment and open-heartedness make a wonderful three-word checklist for any host. Notice that a spotless house and a perfect menu are not on it.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
Ecclesiastes 4:9, King James Version
This ancient verse explains why life is easier with company: two people get more done, and, as the very next verse says, if one falls, the other can help them up. Whether it is a friend who helps you clean up after dinner or a partner who takes the night shift with a sick child, togetherness turns heavy work into shared work.
Togetherness Quotes About Friendship and Kindred Spirits
Some of the people who feel most like family are the ones we chose. These quotes celebrate the friends who let us be ourselves, the cousins who feel like sisters and the kindred spirits we find along the way.
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Friendship,” from Essays: First Series (1841)
Ralph Waldo Emerson named truth as one of the two essential elements of friendship. A true friend is the person you can stop performing for, the one you can call with messy, half-formed thoughts. If you have someone like that, tell them this week how much they mean to you.
Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.
L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908), Chapter 19 (Anne, about Miss Barry)
Anne says this after Diana’s stern great-aunt, Miss Barry, who seemed impossible to please at first, turns out to be a dear friend. It is a hopeful thought for anyone who feels lonely or is walking into a holiday party full of strangers. Kindred spirits are out there, and sometimes they are hiding behind a gruff first impression.
We still have slept together,
Rose at an instant, learned, played, ate together,
And wheresoe’er we went, like Juno’s swans,
Still we went coupled and inseparable.William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 1, Scene 3 (Celia, about her cousin Rosalind)
When her father, the Duke, banishes her beloved cousin Rosalind, Celia speaks up for her with these lines. Celia refuses to be separated from her and soon follows her into the Forest of Arden. These lines are a beautiful picture of the friend or sister who has shared everything with you, from bedtime whispers to schoolwork to meals, and who would follow you anywhere.
My idea of good company… is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.
Jane Austen, Persuasion (1817), Chapter 16 (Anne Elliot)
While her family fusses over impressing their titled relatives, Anne Elliot shares this view with her cousin, Mr. Elliot. Anne is not interested in status. She wants people who think, read and talk. If you dread small talk at holiday parties, take a cue from Anne and steer the conversation toward something real.
I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), “Visitors”
Henry David Thoreau lived simply in a small cabin by Walden Pond, but he was no hermit. He kept one chair for solitude, two for friendship and three for society, and when bigger groups came, his guests simply stood. Your space does not have to be big to be welcoming. Togetherness is about the open door, not the square footage.
Togetherness Quotes About Belonging to Something Bigger
Togetherness reaches beyond our own front door. These last five quotes are about community, loyalty and the people who stand beside us when life gets hard.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624), Meditation 17
During a serious illness, John Donne listened to church bells tolling for the dying and saw a simple truth in them: every life is connected to every other life. The wording here uses a modernized spelling. No one gets through hard times completely alone, and no one should have to. It is a good line to remember when someone you know is quietly struggling this season.
I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America…
Walt Whitman, “For You, O Democracy,” from Leaves of Grass
In this poem from Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman dreams of a country held together by friendship, with companionship planted as thick as trees from the rivers to the Great Lakes to the prairies. It is a hopeful image for the holidays, when so many of us are trying to bridge distances, both on the map and in our hearts.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3 (King Henry, the St. Crispin’s Day speech)
King Henry gives this speech to his outnumbered soldiers before the Battle of Agincourt, promising that everyone who stands with him that day will be his brother. Veterans Day falls on November 11, just ahead of the Thanksgiving season, so it feels right to include it. This one is for the veterans and military families in your life, and for anyone who knows what it means to face something hard side by side.
…there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843), Stave 3 (the narrator, at Fred’s Christmas party)
While Scrooge watches invisibly, his nephew Fred laughs so hard at a Christmas party that his wife and all their friends start laughing too. Dickens calls it a fair and noble arrangement of the world that sorrow is catching, but laughter and good humor are even more catching. Bring a funny story or a silly game to your next gathering and watch it spread.
…whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people…
Ruth 1:16, King James Version
After both women lose their husbands, Ruth makes this promise to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi urges her to go home to her own family, but Ruth chooses to stay. It is one of the oldest and most moving promises of loyalty ever written, and a reminder that family is sometimes the people we choose to stand beside.
How to Use These Togetherness Quotes
A quote is a small thing, but it can open a big conversation. Here are a few easy ways to bring these words into your holiday season:
- Make place cards. Write a different quote on each guest’s place card at Thanksgiving dinner, then invite everyone to read theirs aloud before the meal. Beth’s line and Tiny Tim’s blessing are especially sweet for kids to read.
- Raise a toast. Borrow the Pickwick checklist of hospitality, merriment and open-heartedness for a simple, heartfelt toast at your table or Friendsgiving.
- Send one to a faraway friend. If someone you love cannot make it home this year, text them the Emerson or Anne of Green Gables card with a note that says you are thinking of them.
- Honor a veteran. Share the Henry V card with a veteran or military family you know, on Veterans Day or at your holiday table, along with a sincere thank you.
- Start a conversation. Take Jane Austen’s advice and bring one real question to your next gathering, such as “What is one thing that surprised you this year?”
- Save them to Pinterest. Every card is sized for Pinterest, so you can pin your favorites to a Thanksgiving, friendship or inspiration board.
Planning your gatherings? Our Friendsgiving ideas will help you celebrate the friends who feel like family, and these signs of true friendship are a lovely reminder of who your kindred spirits really are. Togetherness also works best when you protect your own energy, so keep our gentle scripts for setting holiday boundaries without guilt close at hand. If you are trying to stay close without losing yourself, our guide to balancing independence and togetherness can help. And if you want even more warmth for your quote board, browse our kindness quotes.
If the holidays feel lonely for you this year, you are not alone in that, and it is not a personal failing. Reach out to one person, even with a short text, and consider talking with your doctor or a licensed mental health professional if loneliness or low mood is lasting. In the US, you can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline anytime, day or night.
Which Togetherness Quote Will You Share First?
Togetherness does not require a perfect table, a big house or a picture-perfect family. It can be three chairs and an open door, a cousin who would follow you anywhere or a little voice saying “God bless us every one” over a small dinner. What matters is that we show up for each other.
So tell us: which of these togetherness quotes reminds you of your people? Save your favorite card, send one to someone you miss and make a little more room at your table this season.
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