Nature I’ll court in her sequestered haunts, by mountain, meadow, streamlet, grove, or cell; where the poised lark his evening ditty chaunts, and health, and peace, and contemplation dwell.
—Tobias Smollett (1721–71) Scottish Poet, Novelist
Study until twenty five, investigate until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would have him retired on a double allowance.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
Retirement is the ugliest word in the language.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Sooner or later I’m going to die, but I’m not going to retire.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.
—Abe Lemons (1922–2002) American College Basketball Player, Coach
Retirement without the love of letters is a living burial.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
People may live as much retired from the world as they like, but sooner or later they find themselves debtor or creditor to some one.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Lord Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years, but we don’t choose to have it known.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
Few men of action have been able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time.
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) English Journalist, Author, Satirist, Media Personality
Retirement kills more people than hard work ever did.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking.
—Gail Sheehy (1936–2020) American Writer, Journalist
The best time to start thinking about your retirement is before the boss does.
—Unknown
Fear no more the heat o the sun, nor the furious winter’s rages. Thou thy worldly task hast done, home art gone and taken thy wages.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can’t retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy and time.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
He whom God hath gifted with the love of retirement, possesses, as it were, an extra sense.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The worst of work nowadays is what happens to people when they cease to work.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Don’t simply retire from something; have something to retire to.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
A man is known by the company that keeps him on after retirement age.
—Unknown
A short retirement urges a sweet return.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
As to that leisure evening of life, I must say that I do not want it. I can conceive of no contentment of which toil is not to be the immediate parent.
—Anthony Trollope (1815–82) English Novelist
A man can stand almost anything except a succession of ordinary days.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.
—Louis Armstrong (1900–71) American Jazz Trumpeter, Singer
I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.
—Thurgood Marshall (1908–93) American Jurist
I feel nothing but the accursed happiness I have dreaded all my life long: the happiness that comes as life goes, the happiness of yielding and dreaming instead of resisting and doing, the sweetness of the fruit that is going rotten.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Learn to live well, or fairly make your will;
you played, and loved, and ate, and drunk your fill:
walk sober off; before a sprightlier age comes tittering on,
and shoves you from the stage:
leave such to trifle with more grace and ease,
whom Folly pleases, and whose Follies please.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Retirement is wonderful. It’s doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.
—Gene Perret (1937–2022) American Comedy Writer, Producer
There is an enormous number of managers who have retired on the job.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
How use doth breed a habit in a man! this shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
There are some who start their retirement long before they stop working.
—Robert Half
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