And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Hope your Birthday gently breezes into your life all the choicest of things and all that your heart holds dear Have a Fun-Filled Day.
—Steven Wright (b.1955) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
Very early, I knew that the only object in life was to grow.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
Except ye become as little children, except you can wake on your fiftieth birthday with the same forward-looking excitement and interest in life that you enjoyed when you were five, “ye cannot enter the kingdom of God.” One must not only die daily, but every day we must be born again.
—Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) British Crime Writer
Old age is fifteen years older than I am.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Looking fifty is great—if you’re sixty.
—Unknown
To divide one’s life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry on its dull wall-existence by the arbitrary timetables we have drawn up in consultation with those permanent commuters, Earth and Sun. But we, unlike trees, need grow no annual rings.
—Clifton Fadiman (1904–99) American Author, Radio Personality
If there’s something that you’re dreaming of then may it all come true, because you deserve it all…happy birthday.
—Indian Proverb
Here lies interred in the eternity of the past, from whence there is no resurrection for the days—whatever there may be for the dust—the thirty-third year of an ill-spent life, which, after a lingering disease of many months sank into a lethargy, and expired, January 22d, 1821, A.D. leaving a successor inconsolable for the very loss which occasioned its existence.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
From our birthday, until we die, is but the winking of an eye.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.
—George Harrison (1943–2001) English Singer
Fly free and happy beyond birthdays and across forever, and we’ll meet now and then when we wish, in the midst of the one celebration that never can end.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
I’m lost in the middle of my birthday. I want my friends, their touch, with the earth’s last love. I will take life’s final offering; I will take the last human blessing.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
Men are like wine: some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.
—Unknown
The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had, and what you’ve learned from them, and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
—Unknown
Like many women my age, I am 28 years old.
—Indian Proverb
Birthday Bring Along A truly wonderful chance to leave aside every care and simply enjoy. Have an Extra—Special Birthday.
—Indian Proverb
all of us are joining in to say, that May the year which your birthday begins, brings all the special things, that mean the most to you!
—Indian Proverb
I’m not 40, I’m eighteen with 22 years experience.
—Unknown
You are only young once, but you can be immature forever.
—Unknown
The best way to remember your wife’s birthday is to forget it once.
—E. Joseph Cossman
Forty isn’t old, if you’re a tree.
—Indian Proverb
Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and sang Happy Birthday.
—Steven Wright (b.1955) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.
—Indian Proverb
Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.
—Truman Capote (1924–84) American Novelist
A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.
—Unknown
Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of ‘you’ to the world.
—Unknown
It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm.”
—Sam Levenson (1911–80) American Humorist, Writer, TV Personality, Journalist
Age is a matter of feeling, not of years.
—George William Curtis (1824–92) American Essayist, Public Speaker, Editor, Author
Youth is such a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
—Unknown
At the age of 20, we don’t care what the world thinks of us; at 30, we worry about what it is thinking of us; at 40, we discover that it wasn’t thinking of us at all.
—Unknown
Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
We know we’re getting old when the only thing we want for our birthday is not to be reminded of it.
—Unknown
The best years of a woman’s life—the ten years between 39 and 40.
—Indian Proverb
Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other never forgets them.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
If we could be twice young and twice old we could correct all our mistakes.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs.
—Unknown
They say that age is all in your mind. The trick is keeping it from creeping down into your body.
—Indian Proverb
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
For all the advances in medicine, there is still no cure for the common birthday.
—Unknown
Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.
—Larry Lorenzoni
May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.
—Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) American Singer
Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Life is too short to be small.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State