Profoundly inspirational old people quotes will challenge the way you think, and help guide you through any life experience.
Famous Old People Quotes
Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life. Kitty O’Neill Collins
Old age: the crown of life, our play’s last act.
You can live to be a hundred if you give up all things that make you want to live to be a hundred Woody Allen
Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting, and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate. I grow more intense as I age. To my own surprise I burst out with hot conviction.
It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone. Andy Rooney
We deny that aging is a toilsome treadmill grinding to a tragic halt as the years pile up. We affirm aging as a life-spanning process of growth and development from birth to death.
You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you’re down there. George Burns
The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you have been.
There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. Sophia Loren
To grow old is to pass from passion to compassion.
You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing. George Bernard Shaw
Aging is a moral and spiritual frontier because its unknowns, terrors, and mysteries cannot be successfully crossed without humility and self-knowledge, without love and compassion, without acceptance of physical decline and mortality and a sense of the sacred.
By the time you’re 80 years old you’ve learned everything. You only have to remember it George Burns
Aging is a stage in life that’s especially ripe for us to get free.
The really frightening thing about middle age is that you know you’ll grow out of it. Doris Day
We who are old know that age is more than a disability. It is an intense and varied experience, almost beyond our capacity at times, but something to be carried high.
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was? Satchel Paige
Here are the proper occupations of old age: prayer, which is the quickening of the mind, the rooting of attention in the ground of being; song, which is the expression of spontaneous joy in the harmony of the chaos; the telling of old tales, which among all primitives was the supreme function of the old, who passed on the wisdom.
People ask me what I’d most appreciate getting for my eighty-seventh birthday. I tell them, a paternity suit. George Burns
The hard thing when you get old is to keep your horizons open. The first part of your life everything is in front of you, all your potential and promise. But over the years, you make decisions; you carve yourself into a given shape. Then the challenge is to keep discovering the green growing edge.
Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. Edward Stanley
Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the more tired and restless you become, but your view becomes more extensive.
I’m very pleased to be here. Let’s face it, at my age I’m very pleased to be anywhere. George Burns
As we grow older, mirrors become windows.
If I had known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.
Old age is a time for remembering and weaving together many disparate elements and for integrating these incongruities into a comprehensible whole.
Some guy said to me: Don’t you think you’re too old to sing rock n roll?’ I said: You’d better check with Mick Jagger. Cher
Life is a country that the old have seen, and lived in. Those who have to travel through it can only learn the way from them.
I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything until noon. Then it’s time for my nap. Bob Hope
I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older.
Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. Larry Lorenzoni
Spend enough time in the old folks’ home and you’ll discover that the residents keep asking two questions: Where am I?’ and ‘What am I supposed to do now?’ The correct answers, which can make our last years a time of serenity rather than confusion, are Right here and Just be.
At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all. Ann Landers
We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves.
You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. Ogden Nash
To know how to grow old is the masterwork of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.
Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week. Maggie Kuhn
Our moral obligation is to stay as well as we can, to remain active, to avoid abusing our bodies, to do the things that interest us and to enrich the lives of those around us. Our spiritual obligation is to age well; so that others who meet us may have the courage, the spiritual depth, to do the same. Abandoning life before life is over is not just resignation; it is not trying to reach for God on God’s terms.
You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old. George Burns
Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it. Albert Einstein
I feel about aging the way William Saroyan said he felt about death: Everybody has to do it,’ but I always believed an exception would be made in my case. Martha Beck
The world is a university and everyone in it is a teacher. Make sure when you wake up in the morning, you go to school. T. D. Jakes
Today is the oldest you’ve ever been, and the youngest you’ll ever be again. Eleanor Roosevelt
Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.
Old age is always fifteen years older than I am. Oliver Wendell Holmes
All the world is my school and all humanity is my teacher. George Whitman
Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young. Theodore Roosevelt
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi
The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected. Robert Frost
Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn, and you will. Vernon Howard
There are six myths about old age: that it’s a disease, a disaster. That we are mindless. That we are sexless. That we are useless. That we are powerless. That we are all alike. Maggie Kuhn
We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. Lloyd Alexander
A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. John Barrymore
I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. Eartha Kitt
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Mark Twain
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know. Albert Einstein
The wiser mind mourns less for what age takes away than what it leaves behind. William Wordsworth
The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more. Charlie Munger
There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. Sophia Loren
The more you know, the less you need. Yvon Chouinard
Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born. Albert Einstein
A commitment to lifelong learning is a natural expression of the practice of living consciously. Nathaniel Branden
You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing. George Bernard Shaw
The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. M. Scott Peck
Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been. David Bowie
A wealth of experience and wisdom doesn’t have to be a dead giveaway to your increasing years. The spin you put on it is what will keep you young. Don’t let it make you bitter. Learn from it, and let it make you better. Jayleigh Cape
As soon as you feel too old to do a thing, do it. Margaret Deland
About the only thing that comes to us without effort is old age. Gloria Pitzer
Aging is not ‘lost youth’ but a new stage of opportunity and strength. Betty Friedan
Age does not make us childish as some say. It finds us true children. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw
Age is of no importance unless you’re a cheese. Billie Burke
The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes. Frank Lloyd Wright
Age should not have its face lifted, but it should rather teach the world to admire wrinkles as the etchings of experience and the firm line of character. Clarence Day
For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned, it is the season of the harvest. Hasidic saying
All things old become new again. In my youth, the athletes had crew cuts and the hippies had long hair. Now the athletes have long hair and the hippies are bald. Harley King
I suppose real old age begins when one looks backward rather than forward. Mary Sarton
Don’t try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won’t live long enough to find out about, but I’m still curious about them. Betty White
Of all the self fulfilling prophecies in our culture the assumption that aging means decline and poor health is probably the deadliest. Marilyn Ferguson
Even from a very early age, I knew I didn’t want to miss out on anything life had to offer just because it might be considered dangerous. Nicole Kidman
Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young. Ben Franklin
George Macdonald said, If you knew what God knows about death you would clap your listless hands’, but instead I find old people in North America just buying this whole youth obsession. I think growing older is a wonderful privilege. I want to learn to glorify God in every stage of my life. Elisabeth Elliot
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. Franz Kafka
I don’t believe in aging. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun. Virginia Woolf
The trouble is, when a number your age becomes your identity, you’ve given away your power to choose your future. Richard J. Leider
I look forward to being older, when what you look like becomes less and less an issue and what you are is the point. Susan Sarandon
Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better Ingrid Bergman
I think people would live a bit longer if they didn’t know how old they were. Age puts restrictions on things. Karl Pilkington
My physical body may be less efficient and less beautiful in old age. But God has given me an enormous compensation: my mind is richer, my Soul is broader and my wisdom is at a peak. I am so happy with the riches of my advanced peak age that, contrary to Faust, I would not wish to return to youth. Robert Muller
If a woman tells you she’s twenty and looks sixteen, she’s twelve. If she tells you she’s twenty six and looks twenty six, she’s damn near forty. Chris Rock
Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be. Robert Browning
Is someone different at age 18 or 60? I believe one stays the same. Hayao Miyazaki
We don’t grow older, we grow riper. Pablo Picasso
It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides. George Sand
He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, you and age are equally a burden. Plato
It’s easy to grow old if you haven’t grown up. John Hively
Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever. Walt Disney
It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone. Andy Rooney
Old age isn’t so bad if you consider the alternative. Maurice Chevalier
Life is all but a dream we will soon wake up to and be 7 years old again. Kira Jeffries
Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.
Men are most virile and attractive between the ages of 35 and 55. Under 35, a man has too much to learn and I don’t have time to teach him. Hedy Lamarr
My face carries all my memories. Why would I erase them? Diane Von Furstenberg
No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful. Ernest Hemingway
Your 40s are good. Your 50s are great. Your 60s are fab. And 70 is f*@king awesome! Helen Mirren
Old age ain’t no place for sissies. Bette Davis
I don’t plan to grow old gracefully. I plan to have face lifts until my ears meet. Rita Rudner
Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. C.S. Lewis
Aging gracefully is about no heavy makeup, and not too much powder because it gets into the wrinkles, and, you know, to not get turtle eyelids and to not try to look young. Iris Apfel
Some guy said to me, Don’t you think you’re too old to sing rock n’ roll?’ I said, ‘You’d better check with Mick Jagger. Cher
There is nothing more aging than misery. Michelle Pfeiffer
The error of youth is to believe that intelligence is a substitute for experience, while the error of age is to believe experience is a substitute for intelligence. Lyman Bryson
Something pretty that’s just the surface. People worry so much about aging, but you look younger if you don’t worry about it. Jeanne Moreau
The good thing about being old is not being young. Stephen Richards
My advice: Don’t waste so much time worrying about your skin or your weight. Develop what you put your hands on in the world. Meryl Streep
There is a fountain of youth. it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. Sophia Loren
Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty. Coco Chanel
When I was a boy, the Dead Sea was only sick. George Burns
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. Henry Ford
When people talk about the good old days, I say to people, ‘It’s not the days that are old, it’s you that’s old.’ I hate the good old days. What is important is that today is good. Karl Lagerfeld
Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been. Mark Twain
You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing. Michael Pritchard
Time may be a great healer, but it is a lousy beautician.
You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later, he played my father and finally, he played my husband. If he had lived, I’m sure I would have played his mother. That’s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older. Lillian Gish
