Inspirational Quotes for Retirement: A Treasure Trove of Wisdom and Joy

"To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Retirement is a blank sheet of paper. It is a chance to redesign your life into something new and different."

- Patrick Foley

"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years."

- Abraham Lincoln

"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

- Abraham Lincoln

"Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else."

- Fred Rogers

"You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream."

- C.S. Lewis

"Planning to retire? Before you do, find your hidden passion. Do the thing that you have always wanted to do."

- Catherine Pulsifer

"I see retirement as just another of these reinventions, another chance to do new things and be a new version of myself."

- Walt Mossberg

"Living each day as if it were your last doesn't mean your last day of retirement on a remote island. It means to live fully, authentically and spontaneously with nothing being held back."

- Jack Canfield

"There is a whole new kind of life ahead, full of experiences just waiting to happen. Some call it 'retirement.' I call it bliss."

- Betty Sullivan

"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life"

- Audrey Hepburn

"There are far better things ahead than we ever leave behind."

- C.S. Lewis

"Days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Retirement: That's when you return from work one day and say, 'Hi, Honey, I'm home—forever.'"

- Gene Perret

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want…everything else is secondary."

- Steve Jobs

"A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life."

- James Allen

"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."

- Sophia Loren

"Choose a work that you love and you won't have to work another day."

- Confucius

"It's time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad, and I'd much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure."

- Ernie Harwell

"Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

"Retirement means doing whatever I want to do. It means choice."

- Dianne Nahirny

"You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing."

- George Bernard Shaw

"For many, retirement is a time for personal growth, which becomes the path to greater freedom."

- Robert Delamontague

"Retirement, a time to enjoy all the things you never had time to do when you worked."

- Catherine Pulsifer

"If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Retirement gives you the time literally to recreate yourself through a sport, game or hobby that you always wanted to try or that you haven't done in years."

- Steven Price

"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time."

- Jim Rohn

"Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born."

- Albert Einstein

"It’s not the days in life we remember, rather the moments."

- Walt Disney

"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

- Maya Angelou

"In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

"The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want."

- Ben Stein

"There is a whole new kind of life ahead, full of experiences just waiting to happen. Some call it ‘retirement.’ I call it ‘bliss.’"

- Betty Sullivan

"To me, retirement means doing what you have fun doing."

- Dick Van Dyke

"Life is a journey, not a destination."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all."

- Helen Keller

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end."

- Seneca

"What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies."

- Jack Kerouac

"Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else."

- Fred Rogers

"The key to retirement is to find joy in the little things."

- Susan Miller

"It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure."

- Ernie Harwell

"The question isn't at what age I want to retire, it's at what income."

- George Foreman

"As in all successful ventures, the foundation of a good retirement is planning."

- Earl Nightingale

"Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to."

- Harry Emerson Fosdick

"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 Baruch

"Retirement is not in my vocabulary. They aren't going to get rid of me that way."

- Betty White

"Retire from work, but not from life."

- M.K. Soni

"Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it."

- Gene Perret

"I'm not just retiring from the company; I'm also retiring from my stress, my commute, my alarm clock, and my iron."

- Hartman Jule

"You and I will meet again, When we’re least expecting it, One day in some far off place, I will recognize your face, I won’t say goodbye my friend, For you and I will meet again."

- Tom Petty

"There is nothing to regret with a job well done."

- Joe Garcia

"Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."

- Garrison Keillor

"Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation."

- Rumi

"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth."

- Robert Southey

"The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye, until we meet again."

- Jimi Hendrix

"Preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement."

- Arthur E. Morgan

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

- Mark Twain

"Don't act your age in retirement. Act like the inner young person you have always been."

- J. A. West

"Stay young at heart, kind in spirit, and enjoy retirement living."

- Danielle Duckery

"Count your age by friends, not years."

- John Lennon

"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."

- Marv Levy

"I will not retire while I've still got my legs and my make-up box."

- Bette Davis

"I wanted to have more time to play and reflect, but I find retirement more stressful than having a nice, steady job because I have to make decisions about where I want to be."

- Walter Cronkite

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

- Maya Angelou

"Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire."

- Samuel Johnson

"The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes."

- Frank Lloyd Wright

"Goodbyes make you think. They make you realize what you’ve had, what you’ve lost, and what you’ve taken for granted."

- Ritu Ghatourey

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."

- Mark Twain

"Retirement: That’s when you return from work one day and say, ‘Hi honey, I’m home forever.”"

- Gene Perret

"Just living is not enough…..one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

- Hans Christian Andersen

"We don’t grow older, we grow riper."

- Pablo Picasso

"Retirement is wonderful. It’s doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it."

- Gene Perret

"Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better!"

- Ingrid Bergman

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

- Henry Adams

"The greatest use of a life is to spend it for something that will outlast it."

- William James

"Retirement: That's when you return from work one day and say, "Hi, Honey, I'm home — forever.""

- Gene Perret

"Gainfully unemployed, very proud of it, too."

- Charles Baxter

"Working people have a lot of bad habits, but the worst of these is work."

- Clarence Darrow

"I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day."

- Gene Perret

"Choose a work that you love and you won’t have to work another day."

- Confucius

"Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best."

- Bob Talbert

"Sooner or later I'm going to die, but I'm not going to retire."

- Margaret Mead

"My parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that’s the law."

- Jerry Seinfeld

"Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth."

- Helen Caldicott

"A lot of our friends complain about their retirement. We tell 'em to get a life."

- Larry Laser

"What greater joy can a teacher feel than to witness a child’s success?"

- Michelle L. Graham

"Working people have a lot of bad habits, but the worst of those is work."

- Clarence Darrow

"There are some who start their retirement long before they stop working."

- Rober Half

"You can't put off being young until you retire."

- Philip Larkin

"I have never liked working. To me a job is an invasion of privacy."

- Danny McGoorty

"There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want."

- Bill Watterson

"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

"When the untapped potential of a student meets the liberating art of a teacher, a miracle unfolds."

- Mary Hatwood Futrell

"There’s one thing I always wanted to do before I quit . . . . retire!"

- Groucho Marx

"Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it to the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money."

- Jonathan Clements

"You can never have the comeback if you don't have the retirement."

- Chael Sonnen

"There's one thing I always wanted to do before I quit . . . . retire!"

- Groucho Marx

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want."

- Bill Waterson

"I need to retire from retirement."

- Sandra Day O’Connor

"The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off."

- Abe Lemons

"We spend our lives on the run: we get up by the clock, eat and sleep by the clock, get up again, go to work—and then we retire. And what do they give us? A bloody clock!"

- Dave Allen

"I'm always announcing my retirement. I'm still not retired."

- Dick Van Dyke

"Well, I didn't grow up with that word 'retirement' as part of my consciousness. I didn't grow up with professionals that retired. I thought retiring was when you are tired and go to bed."

- Ruby Dee

"Retirement: It's nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese."

- Gene Perret

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

- Anne Bradstreet

"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save."

- Will Rogers

"Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples."

- George Burns

"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there."

- George Burns

"When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking."

- Gail Sheehy

"Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life."

- Kitty O’Neill Collins

"When a man retires, his wife gets twice as much husband for half as much money."

- Chi Chi Rodriguez

"My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law."

- Jerry Seinfeld

"A retired husband is often a wife's full-time job."

- Ella Harris

"When a man retires and time is no longer a matter of urgent importance, his colleagues generally present him with a watch."

- R.C. Sheriff

"My father calls acting 'a state of permanent retirement with short spurts of work.'"

- Chris Pine

"My retirement plan is to get thrown into a minimum security prison in Hawaii."

- Julius Sharpe

"Age is just a number, but retirement is one of the greatest gifts to mankind."

"Retirement isn't the end of the road, but just a turn in the road."

"Retirement is when having a good time is your only job."

"The best part about being retired is never having to request time off."

"Retire from your job, but never retire your mind."

"Retirement is wonderful if you have two essentials—much to live on and much to live for."

"How do you know it's time to retire? It's when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it."

"Retirement: World's longest coffee break."

"I find the biggest trouble with having nothing to do is you can't tell when you are done."

"Retirement: No job, no stress, no pay!"

- Unknown

"Say goodbye to tension and hello to your pension."

"What do you call a person who is happy on a Monday? Retired."

"The best time to start thinking about your retirement is before the boss does."

- Unknown

"You have to put off being young until you can retire."

- Unknown

"Retirement: When you stop lying about your age and start lying around the house."

"He who laughs last at the boss's jokes probably isn't far from retirement."

"Retirement is not the end of the road. It is the beginning of the open highway."

"Retirement is the only time in your life when time no longer equals money."