To judge rightly of our own worth we should retire from the world so as to see both its pleasures and pains in their proper light and dimensions—thus taking the heart from off this world and its allurements, which so dishonor the understanding as to turn the wisest of men into fools and children.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Retirement: It’s nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese.
—Gene Perret
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
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
Don’t you stay at home of evenings? Don’t you love a cushioned seat in a corner, by the fireside, with your slippers on your feet?
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Love prefers twilight to daylight.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
Our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Retirement is wonderful. It’s doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.
—Gene Perret
We had no revolutions to fear, nor fatigues to undergo; all our adventures were by the fireside, and all our migrations from the blue bed to the brown.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
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
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
Retirement kills more people than hard work ever did.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Most people perform essentially meaningless work. When they retire that truth is borne upon them.
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking.
—Gail Sheehy (1936–2020) American Writer, Journalist
Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.
—Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) French Philosopher, Writer, Feminist
Don’t simply retire from something; have something to retire to.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
Sooner or later I’m going to die, but I’m not going to retire.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
Retirement is the ugliest word in the language.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drive into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A man can stand almost anything except a succession of ordinary days.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
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
The best time to start thinking about your retirement is before the boss does.
—Unknown
I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Few men of action have been able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time.
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) English Journalist, Author, Media Personality, Satirist
A short retirement urges a sweet return.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
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
There are some who start their retirement long before they stop working.
—Robert Half
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
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