50 Inspiring Quotes About Stars That Will Add Sparkle To Your Life

Humankind has always looked up to the night sky with a mix of hope and reverence. After all, if not for the stargazers and constellations we would never have left the safety of our homes to explore, sail the seas, and fall in love with the heavens. It’s no wonder, then, that the stars and heavens have been the subject of art and literary giants for centuries. Whether you’re a believer in their mystical power (hello, astrology!) or are more pragmatic in your approach (hello, Neil deGrasse Tyson!), there’s an insightful and memorable star quote or a saying to suit every mood and whim.

Maybe you study constellations. Or perhaps you just enjoy looking up at the night sky. Regardless, a sprinkle of stars is always a sight to see. Since the beginning of time, people have marveled at the twinklings in the sky. And, as luck would have it, many great and poetic minds have written and spoken about them. We’ve rounded up the most famous quotes about stars, love, and light for your next Instagram caption, card, or just to help add a little sparkle to your life.

Want to add more “out of this world” quotes to your list? Check out our pages on Star Wars, The Good Place, magic, and more!

1. “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. “Yours is the light by which my spirit’s born: – you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.” — E. E. Cummings

3. “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” — Carl Sagan, Cosmos

4. “Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”

— Sarah Williams, Twilight Hours: A Legacy Of Verse

5. “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

6. “I like the night. Without the dark, we’d never see the stars.” — Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

7. “I like the stars. It’s the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they’re always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend… I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don’t last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend…” — Neil Gaiman, Brief Lives

8. “There’s as many atoms in a single molecule of your DNA as there are stars in the typical galaxy. We are, each of us, a little universe.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos

9. “Each star is a mirror reflecting the truth inside you.” — Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

10. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” — Lisa Mantchev, Eyes Like Stars

11. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

12. “All we ever see of stars are their old photographs.” — Alan Moore, Watchmen

13. “Stars, too, were time travelers. How many of those ancient points of light were the last echoes of suns now dead? How many had been born, but their light not yet come this far? If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realize we were alone? I had always known the sky was full of mysteries — but not until now had I realized how full of them the earth was.” — Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

14. “We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains. Ninety-three percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names.” — Nikita Gill

15. “A philosopher once asked, ‘Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?’ Pointless, really… ‘Do the stars gaze back?’ Now, that’s a question.” — Neil Gaiman, Stardust

16. “Not just beautiful, though — the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they’re watching me.” — Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

17. “We all shine on… like the moon and the stars and the sun… we all shine on… come on and on and on…” — John Lennon

18. “Do not complain beneath the stars about the lack of bright spots in your life.” — Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

19. “There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.” — Seneca

20. “You are damaged and broken and unhinged. But so are shooting stars and comets.” — Nikita Gill

21. “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” — Carl Sagan

22. “In your life, you will meet shooting stars. You will see them, make your wish and see them disappear.” — Nahiar Ozar

23. “What are we but shooting stars, hoping to shine long enough to make at least one soul believe in the magic.” — Sherry Namdeo

24. “I wish upon a glimmering star,

My hopes as distant and as far. So if this wish does not come true, I’m thankful for the few that do.” — Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year

25. “Don’t whisper your wishes to faraway stars, shout them boldly at the sun.” — Richelle E. Goodrich, Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year

26. “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you.” — Jiminy Cricket

27. “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” — Theodore Roosevelt

28. “A sky as pure as water bathed the stars and brought them out.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

29. “For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” — Vincent van Gogh

30. “The stars are the land-marks of the universe.” — Sir John Frederick William Herschel

31. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” — William Shakespeare

32. “I love the stars. Because they can’t say anything. I love the stars. Because they do not judge anyone.” — Natsuki Takaya

33. “New stars offer to the mind a phenomenon more surprising, and less explicable, than almost any other in the science of astronomy.” — George Adams

34. “I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.” — Augustine “Og” Mandino

35. “Look at the stars. See their beauty. And in that beauty, see yourself.” — Draya Mooney

36. “Maybe that’s what life is — a wink of the eye and winking stars.” — Jack Kerouac

37. “There wouldn’t be a sky full of stars if we were all meant to wish on the same one.” — Frances Clark

38. “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

39. “May all the stars hang bright above her dwelling, silent as though they watched the sleeping earth!” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

40. “It shows you exactly how a star is formed; nothing else can be so pretty! A cluster of vapor, the cream of the milky way, a sort of celestial cheese, churned into light.” — Benjamin Disraeli

41. “It is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star.” — Arthur Eddington

42. “We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened — Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many.” — Mark Twain

43. “If the earth were flat from east to west, the stars would rise as soon for westerners as for orientals, which is false. Also, if the earth were flat from north to south and vice versa, the stars which were always visible to anyone would continue to be so wherever he went, which is false. But it seems flat to human sight because it is so extensive.” — Ptolemy

44. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” — Oscar Wilde

45. “When he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.” — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

46. “What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul.” — Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

47. “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature and Selected Essays

48. “Happiness is always there. You just have to choose to see it. There’s no point dwelling in the dark and ignoring the light of the stars.” — Carrie Hope Fletcher

49. “I saw the world from the stars’ point of view, and it looked unbearably lonely.” — Shaun David Hutchinson, We Are the Ants

50. “Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” — Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason

51. “Pick a flower on Earth and you move the farthest star.” — Paul A.M. Dirac

52. “The stars will go out before I forget you, Mark Blackthorn.” — Cassandra Clare