Getting Older Quotes

“You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. Dance as though EVERYBODY is watching. March to the beat of your own drummer. And stubbornly refuse to fit in.”
― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

“I was thinking about how people seem to read the bible a lot more as they get older, and then it dawned on me—they’re cramming for their final exam.”
― George Carlin

“There comes a moment in your life when you realize that no matter how hard you try, you're never going to be fluent in Spanish. Or go on that African safari you've read about since you were a kid. Or be as excited as you used to be about catching fireflies. I keep trying to find my answer to life - and it gets more elusive the older I get.”
― Kim Gruenenfelder, A Total Waste of Makeup

“So this is it ⎯ what cost me all that time. A man who turned out to be old, a house that turned out to be empty.”
― Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad

“The body fades. A leader who would last relies on more.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season

“I put a thong on a few months ago trying to be sexy. I've been looking for it but ain't seen it since.”
― Tyler Perry, Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life

“The land of easy mathematics where he who works adds up and he who retires subtracts.”
― Núria Añó

“His mind has become a refuge for old thoughts, idle, indigent, with nowhere else to go. He ought to chase them out, sweep the premises clean. But he does not care to do so, or does not care enough"(72).”
― J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace

“Those times are over and gone, and good-riddance to them, too. We were hopelessly high-spirited. Now we're the thick-waisted generation, dragging along our children behind us and carrying our parents on our backs. And we're in charge, while the figures who used to command our respect are wasting away.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“When you get to a certain age you find that other people’s opinions don’t really matter anymore, and you get kind of uncomfortable with your place in modern life.”
― Noel Gallagher

“Getting older makes you no wiser,
but number of lessons that learned.”
― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

“One of the advantages to getting older, though: while you might not change all that much, you at least got to know yourself. The real you, minus the bullshit and wishful thinking.”
― Edward W. Robertson, The Breakers Series: Books 4-6

“As if a great creature had grown old without being able to express its feelings. Not that it didn't know how to express them, but rather it didn't know what to express.”
― Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase

“A woman sat alone at her dining table, reading and drinking a cocktail. It’d be such a relief to be older already, unburdened by the pressure to leverage your ever-fleeting beauty for whatever.”
― Ling Ma, Bliss Montage

“All of a sudden you may realise that you are no longer young! And at that moment, you must also realise that by refusing getting old you can catch a chance to continue to be young!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Besides,’ continued Julian, ‘you can slam down a phone like that. You can’t slam down a mobile. Imagine, a whole generation who’ll never know the joy of slamming down a phone.”
― Clare Pooley, The Authenticity Project

“Getting older happens suddenly. It's like swimming out to sea and realising that the shore you're making for isn't the shore where you started out.”
― Jeanette Winterson, The Gap of Time

“I've noticed that as I get older, time seems to fly by in hyper-speed. You blink, and a week has passed. blink again, and a year has gone by.”
― Elle Kennedy, The Deal

“When you reach a certain age, you see that time is all we have. By which I mean, moments like those springing deer this morning, and watching your mother be born, and sitting at the dining room table here waiting for the phone to ring and announce that a certain baby (you) had been born, or that day when all of us hiked out at Point Lobos. That extremely loud seal, your sister's scarf drifting down, down to that black, briny boulder, the replacement you so generously bought her in Monterey, how pleased you made her with your kindness. Those things were real. That is what (that is all) one gets. All this other stuff is real only to the extent that it interferes with those moments.”
― George Saunders, Liberation Day: Stories

“Time gives me the clarity that only comes when the days and the months and the years pile up on each other so you can stand on top of it all and have an unobstructed view.”
― Jane Arden, You don't know what you want, do you?

“It was in the realm of his humor, and Carney had doubtless laughed. You get older and the old jokes grow less funny.”
― Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle

“As the years go by, I see my youth slip away
And with each passing day, I can't help but to dismay
At the choices that I've made and the paths that I've trod
And the things that I regret, the mistakes that I've not

For with age comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes regret
For all the things I could have done, but never quite did yet
And all the things I should have said, but held back in fear
And all the chances that I missed, year after year

But though the wrinkles on my face may tell a different tale
I know that it's not too late, for life is not a jail
And though I may be getting old, I still have time to start
To make new choices, take new paths, and heal a broken heart

So here I stand, at the crossroads once again
With time and choices stretching out before me like a pen
And though the road ahead may be long and winding still
I'll make the most of every day, and savor every thrill

For I may be getting old, but I am not yet done
And though I may have regrets, I'll rise above, and won.”
― Alex Haditaghi

“Past fifty, we learn with surprise and a sense
of suicidal absolution
that what we intended and failed
could never have happened—
and must be done better.”
― Robert Lowell

“All this fuss about sleeping together.For physical pleasure, I'd sooner go to my dentist any day.”
― Geoff Tibballs, The Grumpy Old Git's Guide to Life

“At old age, one realizes that life is truly a dream.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, The Oneironaut’s Diary

“On a scale of one to eight
Youth is middle C”
― Nanette L. Avery

“Speaking of aging… well, that’s tricky. At times, it is comforting and gives me a certain resolution. Like “this is who you are: swallow it!” Other times, I feel slightly disjointed and like a grandpa falling down the stairs. Both are welcome and I accept them lovingly. But it’s day to day.”
― Mike Patton

“I don't drink or take drugs. At my age, I get the same effects by standing up too fast.”
― Jeff Gaudette

“Shadow On The Lake by Stewart Stafford

Neighbour coughing up phlegm,
As Stefan began his morning jog,
With an elderly shadow escort,
His stooping gait shocked him.

Outcast sleeper in their lakeside car,
Windows fogged with condensation,
Homeless sightseer or lost tourist?
Absconded prisoner, lovers entwined?

He left the stranger(s) undisturbed,
Pulling a sharp U-turn at the lake,
His aged shape still fleet of foot,
Dormant fugitive(s) eating his dust.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“There's one thing I learnt been alone, you realise you're getting older.”
― Daniel Oluwaseun