As we grow older, the vibrant dreams and boundless aspirations of our youth often fade into the background. Life’s responsibilities and the practicalities of everyday existence can overshadow our goals, leaving us with fewer dreams to chase. However, the wisdom gained through years of experience also offers a unique perspective on what truly matters. In this collection of quotes, you explore the reflections and insights of those who have navigated the journey of life, reminding us that it’s never too late to dream anew and set fresh goals.
You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.
George Burns, Comedian
The biggest lie about getting older is that excitement and growth end with youth.
MO, Writer
I highly recommend getting older! There’s less tendency to people-please.
Alanis Morissette, Singer
As I’m getting older, I’m really learning unconditional love and loyalty are extremely important.
Bindi Irwin, Conservationist
That’s another great thing about getting older. Your life is written on your face.
Frances McDormand, Actress
Getting older is hard.
Alec Baldwin, Actor
I’m pretty fit, naturally. I do moderate exercise, and I try to eat pretty well and I think it has an effect on me. But hey, I’m putting on the insulin tire like everybody else, but that’s just a function of getting older.
Mel Gibson, Actor
I’ve been running a full marathon every year for more than 20 years, and my record is getting worse. Getting older, getting worse. It’s natural.
Haruki Murakami, Author
As I’m getting older, I’m enjoying my vices so much more because I feel like I’ve deserved them.
Brooke Shields, Actress
The great thing about getting older is that you get a chance to tell the people in your life who matter what they mean to you.
Mike Love, Musician
I have become more and more afraid about marriage and parenting. I think it’s because I am getting older. Of course, there will be a lot to learn, and I also know that the experience will help in my acting.
Gong Yoo, Actor
Getting older has compensations, though when you hit 50 you become very aware of your own mortality and it makes you reassess.
Caroline Quentin, Actress
I even love getting older, and knowing maybe I can’t do one thing as well, but then trying to figure out how to do something else. That inner drive, I have it every day.
Diana Taurasi, Basketball Player
The thing that’s changed the way I do my stand-up act is having kids and getting older and wiser and smarter. There might be a joke or two in the past that I wish I hadn’t done, but in the past, you can’t have it back.
Larry the Cable Guy, Comedian
I’ve always traveled with a picture of my daughter from 1989, her kindergarten school picture, that has ‘I love you, Daddy’ written on it. She’s always made fun of me because I never changed that picture out. It’s like my resistance to her getting older. It was the first thing she’d ever written to me and it means the world to me.
Kiefer Sutherland, Actor
I like getting older. When you’re in your twenties you’re really forging for your future. Things take shape later on.
Crispin Glover, Actor
One of the main dilemmas that’s pretty common to a lot of people who are getting older is the idea that maybe there’s a finish line and that maybe there’s a time in your life when you start to slow down and stop and smell the roses and just kind of settle into what will be a comfortable period in your life.
Chris Cornell, Musician
Stages are getting higher and higher, and I’m getting older and older.
Iggy Pop, Musician
I can honestly say I love getting older. Then again, I never put my glasses on before looking in the mirror.
Cherie Lunghi, Actress
And you know, the baby boomers are getting older, and those off the rack clothes are just not fitting right any longer, and so, tailor-made suits are coming back into fashion.
Amy Irving, Actress
Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.
Groucho Marx, Comedian
The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.
Madeleine L’Engle, Author
You can’t stop getting older; you just have to keep going and laugh a lot.
Anita Dobson, Actress
The great thing about getting older is that you become more mellow. Things aren’t as black and white, and you become much more tolerant. You can see the good in things much more easily rather than getting enraged as you used to do when you were young.
Maeve Binchy, Author
Getting older is fine. There is nothing you can do to stop it so you might as well stay on the bus.
John Byrne, Cartoonist
Age is not bleak because our joys end, but because our hopes cease.
Jean Paul, writer
One often forgets a great charm of old age, namely calm resignation.
Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau, german statesman and writer
A study has found that the average German owns 10,000 things. Services are added to this. How are we supposed to manage that when, on one hand, every thing demands its time, but on the other hand, the day has only 24 hours?
Niko Paech, economist
Part of getting older is realizing that you can integrate all these different areas of your life, rather than the adolescent mindset, which for me lasted a long time, which says, ‘It’s all or nothing’.
Chris Robinson, Musician
Since people are going to be living longer and getting older, they’ll just have to learn how to be babies longer.
Andy Warhol, Artist
Obviously as I’m getting older, I’m seeing changes in my body that I may not like… but I do love food, and I’m from the South. I’m not gonna lie, I eat fried chicken, I love macaroni and cheese, and I love grits.
Erin Andrews, Sportscaster
We would all like to grow old, but when it comes, it is too soon for everyone.
German proverb
Having no time is the poorest form of poverty.
Friedrich Jünger, German lyricist and essayist
Finally, one knows what time is: No matter how much one dawdles, it will not be earlier.
Günter Eich, radio play author and lyricist
I maybe had a first love and had my heart broken, but reflecting on it, I don’t think that was love. I think as I’m getting older and having more in-depth relationships, maybe I’ll experience it. At the moment, I don’t know, exactly, if I’ve been in love.
Selena Gomez, Singer
The one cool thing with getting older is that you can actively choose to just be an eccentric.
Greg Behrendt, Comedian
Only those who deny their age truly feel old.
Lilli Palmer, German-British-Swiss actress and author
I have no reverence for old age; you can be just as stupid at 80.
Klaus Hoffmann, songwriter
From the standpoint of youth, life is an infinitely long future; from the standpoint of old age, a very short past.
Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher
Rich hearts experience much in a short time.
Friedrich Spielhagen, writer
He who always muses and never begins, lets time pass unused.
Heinrich Kämpchen, miner and poet
One, two, three, in quick step, time runs; we run with it.
Wilhelm Busch, poet and illustrator
I’m getting older. That’s realistic. I can’t reverse time. I can slow it down a little bit.
Jordan Burroughs, Wrestler
In youth we learn, in age we understand.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, writer
Time we take is time that gives us something.
Ernst Ferstl, teacher and writer
If getting young people computer-literate through putting school systems online is a no-brainer, at least in retrospect, getting older people and those in rural areas online can be a tougher nut to crack.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Politician
I think that’s a weak excuse, to say because a rapper’s getting older that he ain’t got it no more. Nah. Don’t go by that philosophy. Let’s just recognize that talent is within.
Raekwon, Rapper
You can’t help getting older, but you can help yourself from becoming old and infirm, in mind as well as body.
Joan Collins, Actress
One of the pleasures of getting older and making a living the way you want to is that your social circle becomes rarified, and the people who enter have been vetted.
Adam Mansbach, Author
I never thought getting older would be so great. But when it comes to depression, I have experienced less the older I’ve gotten.
Amy Grant, Singer
I actually think there’s an incredible amount of self-knowledge that comes with getting older.
Jamie Lee Curtis, Actress
It’s true, I don’t like the process of getting older.
Amanda Redman, Actress
Getting older is a hideous experience; I’m so glad I only have to do it once. But I’ve kept my mind, my career, my relationship, and I have enough money – I’ve been blessed.
Miriam Margolyes, Actress
When you have heart disease, you start to be tired of everything. It’s like getting older. You become more white, and after that, grey. You have no feeling for anything.
Gerard Depardieu, Actor
Now that our kids are getting older, they need their space. We dug out the basement so they will have a place to go crazy in the wintertime. My son is already talking about how he’s going to make a skateboard ramp. It’s just a mosh pit down there, so they can do whatever they want. We’re not even going to finish it.
Candice Olson, Designer
I feel like old age in America is a very sad thing. I have been many different places around the world where getting older is something you look forward to.
Alice Waters, Chef
Since our society equates happiness with youth, we often assume that sorrow, quiet desperation, and hopelessness go hand in hand with getting older. They don’t. Emotional pain or numbness are symptoms of living the wrong life, not a long life.
Martha Beck, Author
The good part about getting older is you stop trying to prove anything to anyone, including yourself. All you are in the pursuit of is collecting experiences – beautiful, fragile little soap bubbles that you store in your heart, and every once in a while you pull one out and gaze at the delicate pictures it shows you.
Twinkle Khanna, Writer
‘Back To Love’ is a way of letting people know that sometimes you get caught up in trying to be successful in school or in your social life, and it’s a reminder not to forget that each day people are getting older. Nobody is promised tomorrow, so we should make sure that we spend quality time with quality people.
Anthony Hamilton, Singer
If you’re not getting older, you’re dead.
Tom Petty, Musician
One of the nice things about getting older is that you come to understand that you can integrate multiple aspects of your life together. When you’re young, you think everything has to be binary, as that’s exactly how you feel at that age.
Min Jin Lee, Author
The baby boomers are getting older, and will stay older for longer. And they will run right into the dementia firing range. How will a society cope? Especially a society that can’t so readily rely on those stable family relationships that traditionally provided the backbone of care.
Terry Pratchett, Author
If you’re always battling against getting older, you’re always going to be unhappy, because it’s going to happen anyhow.
Mitch Albom, Author
Sometimes I can’t believe I’m going to be 60. I always say there’s no point moaning about getting older, when there’s nothing you can do about it. But still, I do find it quite funny. I look at that number, 60, and I think, ‘Really? Me?’
Twiggy, Model
In getting older, I find myself becoming progressively more ineffectual in a lot of different ways, and part of that is down to no longer having the youthful feeling that what you’re doing has any true impact.
Nick cave, musician, singer
I just want to keep going as long as I can. I’m getting older, and I want to keep growing, and I feel pretty excited about what I do. Whether it’s true or not, I believe I’m doing better as a writer, which is really nice.
Timothy B. Schmit, musician
I’m a person who gets better with practice. Getting older is awesome – because you get more practice.
Zooey Deschanel, actress and singer
In the entertainment industry, there is this fear of getting older, because we have high definition television now, and you can see things that the human eye can’t even pick up. But the good thing about standup is that the older you get, the funnier you get.
Whitney Cummings, comedian
The best thing about getting older is knowing history. The longer you live, the longer you have been in a sport, the more you know, and the more you know where things started.
John Madden, sportscaster
I’m getting older now, so I should think about a family, but certainly not tomorrow.
Christina Ricci, actress
The ultimate gathering when I was younger would be an over-the-top Christmas party. Now, ugh, it’s so sad… as I’m getting older, I kind of look forward to more intimate, really nice dinners.
Haylie Duff, actress and singer
I think women should start to embrace their age. What’s the alternative to getting older? You die. I can’t change the day I was born. But I can take care of my skin, my body, my mind, and try to live my life and be happy.
Olivia Munn, actress and model
But I’m kind of comfortable with getting older because it’s better than the other option, which is being dead. So I’ll take getting older.
George Clooney, actor and filmmaker
I’m good with getting older because I feel like, one day, I know I will love myself.
Amanda Seyfried, actress
There are a ton of things that go with getting older. You lose friends you love, family you love.
Amanda Redman, actress
I’m getting older, but better, too. And the roles are getting better.
John Lithgow, actor
The good thing about getting older is that, as you become less attractive, so you have less desire to go out and conquer everyone you see.
Julian Clary, comedian
Starting at about, I guess, forever, I’ve always looked forward to getting older. When I was 14, I couldn’t wait to be 16 and get a driver’s license.
Matthew McConaughey, actor
It’s no fun getting older. I might be wearing beautiful diamond earrings, but they can’t take away the pain of losing my hearing.
Cilla Black, singer and television presenter
Getting older is a fact of life.
Goldie Hawn, actress
Losing friends is the worst thing about getting older.
Eileen Atkins, actress
I’m so stupid because I refuse to think that I’m getting older. I get up in the morning, and it’s like, ‘La, la, la, I’m so pretty.’ I still mingle with a lot with young people. I even go to college campuses to talk to them because I know how they think. They don’t think I’m boring, either. They think I’m cool, but I want them to think I’m hot!
Charo, musician and actress
I used to say when I was younger, ‘I’m exhausted; writers can only write for four hours a day and that’s done.’ Now I find, as I’m getting older and I’m more aware of time, I can actually write all day.
Peter Carey, novelist
Like everyone else who makes the mistake of getting older, I begin each day with coffee and obituaries.
Bill Cosby, comedian
Gymnastics, for me, gave me a lot of self-pride: that drive to want to be great at something for myself. But it also gave me a sense of appreciation toward God. Now that I’m getting older, I really appreciate the talents God gave me. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
Amanda Borden, gymnast
We got to see the world, we’re put on some of the best teams in Europe, we made a lot of money, and then the flip side is it was 12 years of our parents getting older.
Diana Taurasi, basketball player
Why are people afraid of getting older? You feel wiser. You feel more mature. You feel like you know yourself better. You would trade that for softer skin? Not me!
Anna Kournikova, tennis player
It’s funny how getting older – or being overlooked and underrated for more than two decades – can make you change your ambitions.
Reg E. Cathey, actor
I think we all want to successfully push back the aging process, to deny the aging process. Who among us says, ‘Yippee, I’m getting older’?
Jens Voigt, cyclist
The good part about getting older is that you stop trying to prove anything to anyone, including yourself. All you are in the pursuit of is collecting experiences – beautiful, fragile little soap bubbles that you store in your heart, and every once in a while you pull one out and gaze at the delicate pictures it shows you.
Twinkle Khanna, writer
I don’t mind getting older; I just don’t want to be in pain.
Cornelia Parker, artist
The great thing about getting older is that you become more mellow. Things aren’t as black and white, and you become much more tolerant. You can see the good in things much more easily rather than getting enraged as you used to do when you were young.
Maeve Binchy, novelist
Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.
Groucho Marx, comedian
I was just very shy. I was never anxious to do talk shows, as I didn’t know what to say. And I don’t feel I have any inherent interest. But as I’m getting older, I feel I want to be able to share whatever I know if it means something to someone.
Christopher Lloyd, actor
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, I’m finding enjoyment in things that stop time. Just the simple act of tasting a glass of wine is its own event. You’re not downing a glass of wine in the midst of doing something else.
David Hyde Pierce, actor
I used to love getting older.
Marianne Elliott, theater director
One of the positives of getting older is that you forget your age. Then you find out that you’re younger than you thought you were.
Michael McIntyre, comedian
As I started getting older, I realized, ‘I’m so happy!’ I didn’t expect this! I wasn’t happy when I was young.
Jane Fonda, actress and activist
In the Mormon Church, we believe we can be married for all eternity, not till death do you part. As Mom was getting older, she was excited, truly excited, that within a few years she’d be with Dad again.
Clayton M. Christensen, business consultant
I’m getting older, and I’m smarter about how I eat.
Joey Chestnut, competitive eater
While younger women are told to be thinner and prettier, ads for older women emphasize looking younger and wrinkle free – tapping into the insecurities that many of us have about getting older.
Mel Robbins, author and speaker
I’m getting older; you realise you are on the countdown of what you are doing, so performing means more than it ever did to me.
Joe Cocker, musician
One of the things that goes with getting older is that one becomes more conservative – and I emphasise that when I use the word conservative I do not mean politically.
Jeffrey Bernard, journalist
I don’t like getting older, but there’s nothing I can do. Hitting 60 wasn’t great, but I think I was lucky in not being that beautiful; it can be really cruel on people who have been stunning.
Jane Birkin, actress
Twilight is about getting older and relationships – not about a murder mystery. It’s about love when you reach a certain age; nothing is in primary colors.
Robert Benton, director
The dreadful thing about getting older is you cry at the drop of a hat.
Eric Idle, comedian
One of the pluses of getting older is you set some limits.
Nicolas Cage, actor
I think I had the smallest handle around. When I got my bats, I even trimmed them down. I used to scrape them. Some years later when I started getting older, I used to start with a 33 and in the summer it got down to 31 and then probably in September got down to 30.
Stan Musial, baseball player
People going into the cities for the opportunities and the towns are getting older, no young people.
Rachel Griffiths, actress
The minute you’re born, you’re getting older.
Doris Roberts, actress
I’m kind of comfortable with getting older because it’s better than the other option, which is being dead. So I’ll take getting older.
George Clooney, actor
I love getting older!
Evangeline Lilly, actress
The thing about getting older is the injuries. You just get injured more often. You take time off, you come back, you get injured again and you never get in shape.
Allen Johnson, athlete
I’m not sure Kinsey has changed in these first twelve books. I think the reader learns more about her, but from Kinsey’s perspective, only three years have passed while the rest of us have been getting older at a much faster clip.
Sue Grafton
Certainly, for time out of mind, an obsessive dwelling on happier former days has been synonymous with getting older, while it was the juvenescent who rushed with open arms to embrace the future.
Will Self, author
I have pushed the boat out as far as I should in terms of taking on too many things. I’m getting older and I just could not take it any more. I am now monitoring myself very closely and I’m just trying not to get into that sort of state again.
Stephen Fry, comedian
I’m not afraid to play my age. I never was. I’ve never been an ingenue. I like getting older.
Maria Bello, actress
The great disadvantage of getting older is to be obliged to relive the salient economic events of one’s youth, with nothing learned and nothing forgotten.
James Buchan, author
I feel lucky to be getting older. The fact that I made it to 30 and then 40 was big enough. So I can’t get too down on getting older; otherwise, it kind of undoes everything I’ve fought for.
Sam Taylor-Johnson, director
As a musician, life is not over just because you are getting older, and so I find retirement a very frightening and dark thought.
Ian Anderson, musician
When I hear that a project takes place out of town, the material better be terrific, and it has to come at the right time. My kids are getting older, so it’s getting easier, but being a mother – it’s a difficult thing to juggle.
Nicole Holofcener, director
I don’t worry. I’m more stoical. Of course I have insecurities. I fear getting older. I fear death and illness. I’m not prone to depression, but I get depressed because everybody gets depressed. Suddenly I’m away from my family or doing a job I’m not enjoying.
David Thewlis, actor
As a man gets older, if he knows what is good for him, the women he likes are getting older too. The trouble is that most of them are married.
Ross MacDonald, author
The more you are getting older, you lose a little something. Of course there is another advantage, because of your long experience you can use it.
Haile Gebrselassie, athlete
Once you’ve been somebody, really, you have a career and you’re a nobody anymore, and you’re getting older, you’re living what’s called a state of shame.
Mickey Rourke, actor
Why would I worry about getting older – what’s to moan about?
Dawn French, comedian
My friends have to remind me that it’s OK to own the fact that you’re good at something. I think it’ll just come with getting older.
Earl Sweatshirt, rapper
These characters, they have to evolve. They’re getting older on the show, these are things that happen in everyone’s life. People do get married… this is just a natural evolution. I wonder if we’ll have ‘Big Bang’ babies in the season finale?
Kunal Nayyar, actor
I do still get shocked every once in a while when I catch my reflection when I’m walking past a glass building, but it’s in my mind about getting older and finding out what I’m going to look like as it unfolds – or as it folds, depending on where the marks and scars land.
Dave Matthews, musician
I noticed that when my daughter was born, my son really, really liked her. But then as she started getting older, and as she started crawling around our house and touching different things that were his, sibling rivalry issues started appearing.
Gene Luen Yang, cartoonist
I don’t feel bad or scared about getting older in terms of my looks or anything like that. I’m not afraid of my face changing. I enjoy seeing my face change. I think it’s really interesting. I wouldn’t want to have same face for my whole life. It would be boring to look at the same face in the mirror for 80 years.
Juliana Hatfield, musician
Madeleine Albright, when you see her, she’s not a beautiful woman and she’s getting older. But you’re saying that woman has gravitas. She knows what she’s talking about.
Joy Behar, comedian
When you’ve been driving in the top category for 10 years, you’re obviously not a kid any more. You know, I’m married now and I’ve got two kids. That let’s you know you’re getting older.
Larry Dixon, racing driver
It’s nice, though, getting older and being able to do different roles.
Luke Wilson, actor
Believe me, I’ve totally blown any kind of so-called reputation I may have had. I really don’t care. I think that’s one of the joys of getting older; you just stop caring about things like that.
Jane Wiedlin, musician
That’s one of the things about getting older isn’t it? You suddenly realise that you are what you set out to be. And there are no role models any more.
Stephen Bayley, critic
The 40s onwards are when we can really begin to enjoy ourselves. For many women, this is when everything comes together, and they look better than ever. The great thing about getting older is you don’t have to do/wear/say anything you don’t want to. It wasn’t until my very late 30s that I stopped worrying about what other people thought.
Twiggy, model
My skin may have wrinkles but it’s because I’m smiling so much. That might sound like some terrible American greetings card, but I feel it’s immoral for me to castigate my body for getting older, when it does everything I ask of it.
Olivia Williams, actress
The good thing about getting older is that, as you become less attractive, so you have less desire to go out and conquer everyone you see.
Julian Clary, comedian
The ultimate gathering when I was younger would be an over-the-top Christmas party. Now, ugh, it’s so sad… as I’m getting older, I kind of look forward to more intimate, really nice dinners.
Haylie Duff, actress and singer
As time goes by and you’re getting older and stuff like that – getting older sucks. You know, I hear all this crap about, ‘Oh, you can age with dignity.’ Really?
Mickey Rourke, actor
I’m looking forward to getting older. I look at people like Peter Gabriel and Sting and even Tom Petty, Don Henley. People that didn’t lose it. I’m hopefully going to join that club.
Brandon Flowers, musician
The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.
Madeleine L’Engle, author
I just feel like it gets harder and harder every year with Ace getting older and time away from my husband and even family events such as birthdays and friends’ weddings and things that I’ve always just missed out on because of softball.
Jennie Finch, softball player
There are creative benefits to getting older.
Ron Howard, filmmaker
I don’t mind getting older. I’m enjoying not having that raging ambition I’ve had all my life.
Jeremy Irons, actor
I need to lose some weight. I’m getting really fat. But I’m getting older, and I just can’t stop eating wonderful food. Rich, wonderful food.
H. Jon Benjamin, actor and comedian
Growing up, getting older, your age – you get to the point where you’re comfortable in your own skin, you know who you are.
Gina Schock, musician
The great thing about getting older is that you get a chance to tell the people in your life who matter what they mean to you.
Mike Love, musician
As I’m getting older, I’m really learning unconditional love and loyalty are extremely important.
Bindi Irwin, conservationist
I’m getting older. That’s realistic. I can’t reverse time. I can slow it down a little bit.
Jordan Burroughs, wrestler
I highly recommend getting older! There’s less tendency to people-please.
Alanis Morissette, singer
I think that’s what makes life interesting – the evolution of getting older, and it’s kinda fascinating to me, the whole process.
Alexis Bledel, actress
I just want to keep going as long as I can. I’m getting older, and I want to keep growing, and I feel pretty excited about what I do. Whether it’s true or not, I believe I’m doing better as a writer, which is really nice.
Timothy B. Schmit, musician singer and songwriter
Everything runs its course. We had told a lot of stories that happened in our life. My kid was getting older, and we were running out of stories to tell.
Howie Mandel, comedian
When you are just muscle, you end up being gaunt in the face, and that makes you look older by 5 or 10 years. I don’t think of getting older as looking better or worse; it’s just different. You change, and that’s OK.
Heidi Klum, model
I think my least healthy habit is running around too much. And I think I’m getting better about it as I’m getting older.
Cyntia Nixon, actress
I don’t feel like I’m getting older. I think it’s the way I’ve looked after myself. I take my football seriously. I love scoring goals and I get a good feeling from it, so I’ll do whatever it takes to be fit and feel good in games.
Jermain Defoe, footballer
I’m just getting older and better.
Neal Schon, Musician
I know that might sound silly coming from someone my age, but I remember on my 14th birthday having a crisis like my mom should be having. I kept thinking that I was getting older, and I haven’t really accomplished anything. I remember thinking that I better accomplish something real soon.
Q’orianka Kilcher, actress
The fun thing about getting older is finding younger people to mentor.
Mike May, athlete
I don’t want to put a pause on the rest of my life; I’m really enjoying getting older and the wisdom that comes from that.
Rosemarie DeWitt, actress
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