Keep Moving Quotes

“In general, things either work out or they don’t, and if they don’t, you figure out something else, a plan B. There’s nothing wrong with plan B.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Truths About Living Well Longer

“Why is it amazing that I don’t act my age? Why should I act my age? Or more to the point, how is someone my age supposed to act? Old age is part fact, part state of mind, part luck, and wholly something best left for other people to ponder, not you or me. Why waste your time? I don’t.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Truths About Living Well Longer

“For the past twenty years I have been involved with the Midnight Mission, a Los Angeles–based facility dedicated to helping men, women, and children who have lost everything return to self-sufficiency. I spend every holiday there; I don’t get the Christmas spirit until I am at the Mission. Early on I approached a large, mean-looking man and wished him a merry Christmas. The menacing look on his face disappeared—he smiled. “People look through us,” he says. “Or they look past us. Nobody sees us. But you’re looking right at me. That is one helluva gift, man.” His smile was an even bigger gift to me. And it has been that way ever since.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“I am a child in search of his inner adult, though the truth is that I’m not searching too hard. I don’t recommend anyone doing so. That is the secret, the one people always ask me about when they see me singing and dancing, whistling my way through the grocery store or doing a soft shoe in the checkout line. They say, “Pardon me, Mr. Van Dyke, but you seem so happy. What’s your secret?” What they really want to know is how I have managed to grow old, even very old, without growing up, and the answer is this: I haven’t grown up. I play. I dance with my inner child. Every day.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“Scripture says you should put aside childish things when you grow up. I take that to mean willfulness, self-centeredness, and things like that—not imagination, creativity, and joyful curiosity.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“Then I told him about a dream I have frequently, usually just before I wake up. In the dream I am running through an open field, running like a deer—free and fast and wide open without ever getting tired. I dream that a lot, probably because I can’t run like that anymore. It is a spectacular dream: therapeutic, thrilling, energizing, and fun. Then I wake up feeling—” “Like a kid,” Jerry said. “Yes, exactly like I did as a kid.” “And are you disappointed when you get up and look in the mirror?” I shook my head. It is wonderful to remember the feeling of being young, but if you ask me, it’s much more important to revel in what you still have.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“Everyone lives and dies, and although we don’t get to choose the way we die, we do have a big say in the way we live.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Truths About Living Well Longer

“I love ideas and stories. I always have at least one book going and am on the lookout for the next one. They feed the brain and fuel the imagination. I can’t imagine life without them.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Truths About Living Well Longer

“Accepting that life is a perfectly imperfect experience is a crucial part of appreciating senior citizenship and coming to terms with the past.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“Call it fate, luck, or whatever. If you make it past then, as I have, you discover a truth and joy that you wish you had known earlier: there is no plan. As you get older, you figure this out. You relax. You exhale. You quit worrying.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“..why sit on the sidelines of life at any age?”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Truths About Living Well Longer

“You get to that place where you are like a favorite old flannel shirt—well worn, faded, thin in places, but so perfectly comfortable you love it more than anything else in the closet. Like that old shirt, you want to feel great. The outside doesn’t matter as much as the texture and touch, all the memories and miles, and, of course, the fact that it still does its job!”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“No one expects me to go anywhere soon. Good for me. I am not about to complain. In terms of money, though, my family will be up the creek. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I may have to fake my own death before I’m ninety-five. I feel too good.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“It is a relatively recent phenomenon that human beings worry about old age, social security, medical bills, and long-term care. But you can only plan so much. In general, things either work out or they don’t, and if they don’t, you figure out something else, a plan B. There’s nothing wrong with plan B. Most of life, as I have learned, is a plan B. Or a plan C. Or plans L, M, N, O, P.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“I’ve never seen so much arthritis in a single person.” “What about a married person?” I hoped a joke might lighten the seriousness of his delivery. It didn’t.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“Eventually you will reach a point where you will stop lying about your age and start bragging about it. —WILL ROGERS”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“Every morning, I wake up and read the obituaries— and if I’m not in them, I have breakfast. —CARL REINER”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“There used to be a regular poker game at Barbara Sinatra’s house in Malibu, and a great group of people showed up, including Jack Lemmon, Larry Gelbart, and Gregory Peck, who wore a little green visor like an old-time gambler. Everyone was about the same age, in their late sixties or seventies. I took my longtime companion, Michelle Triola, there because she loved to play poker. One night, back when I was doing Diagnosis Murder, I let her off and told the gang I was going back home. “I’m the only one here who doesn’t play poker,” I said. “You’re the only one here who’s working,” said Gregory Peck.”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

“As a younger man, though, I lacked confidence, the confidence that comes with experience. I worried and stressed way more than I should have. Now I see that worrying and stressing never helped accomplish anything. It was only when I let myself go and had fun that the magic happened—and continues to happen. Here”
― Dick Van Dyke, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging