Meaning of “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

Jo's Boys; the reassurance follows a setback and reframes a difficult year as experience that may later prove unusually helpful rather than simply wasted time.

Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 13, section 3, Richard M. Gummere translation.

Paradise Lost (1667), Book II, lines 432–433; Satan addresses the infernal council before undertaking the journey out of Hell. The line describes the epic’s literal route from Hell toward light and remains character speech, not a general promise of recovery.

Opening of The American Crisis No. I; Paine addresses perseverance during a difficult stage of the American Revolution.

Little Women, Chapter 44, “My Lord and Lady,” Project Gutenberg #514. Amy March Laurence says the represented storm/sailing thought while discussing married life with Laurie. The frozen catalog wording expands the source contraction to “I am not afraid of storms,” while the represented #514 text reads “I’m not afraid of storms”; this is a legacy wording variant of the same passage represented by the separate contracted record, not a second independent locus.

Optimism: An Essay; Keller connects optimism with purposeful action rather than passive cheerfulness.