"The Sabbath and holidays are the primary reason for Jewish endurance and glory." ~~ Judah Halevi
"For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins; you shall be clean before the Lord. [Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur] " ~~ Leviticus (Vayikra) 16:30
"When you whitewash your home, leave a small patch bare to remind you of the Temple’s destruction! [Tisha B”Av] " ~~ Talmud, Bava Batra
"Thou hast loved us, taken pleasure in us, and exalted us above all tongues. Thou hast sanctified us by Thy commandments, brought us near to Thy service, and called us by Thy great and holy Name." ~~ Prayer for Festivals
"Abhor not an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land! [Passover/Pesach]" ~~ Deuteronomy (Devarim) 23:8
"If a man says: I will sin and the Day of Atonement will atone for me, then that Day will not atone for him." ~~ Yoma 8:9
"Every Jew must either give or take charity for Passover." ~~ Shalom Aleichem
"The Sabbaths are for rest and the festivals for joy, not for fasting and weeping and crying." ~~ Maimonides
"Moses ordained that Jews be addressed each holiday on the subject of that holiday, and he said to Israel: if you do this, it will be as if you established God’s sovereignty." ~~ Midrash Abkir, Yalkut Shimoni #408
"In Ne”ilah [the closing prayer] of Yom Kippur, what did he [the Cohen] say? “And Hashem will bless you from Zion and you will see the good of Jerusalem all of the days of your life.” " ~~ Talmud, Sotah 40a
"The river of life…flows from birth toward death. Day follows day with wearisome monotony. Only the holidays twine themselves together to form the circle of the year. Only through the holidays does life experience the eternity of the river that returns to its source. Then life becomes eternal." ~~ Franz Rosenzweig
"Jerusalem is like a city that people are friendly together; a city in which all [the people of] Israel are friends when the tribes ascend there for the pilgrimage. " ~~ Talmud Yerushalmi, Hagiga 3