Aging Well Quotes

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”
― Gabriel García Márquez

“She is one of those ladies who is more beautiful at sixty than she could possibly have been at twenty. (how I hope someone says that about me someday)!”
― Mary Ann Shaffer

“As we grow old...the beauty steals inward.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“But she was waiting patiently. She no longer believed in talk. It never rescued anything. At seventy she had come to believe in time alone.”
― Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones

“Scent is such a powerful tool of attraction, that if a woman has this tool perfectly tuned, she needs no other. I will forgive her a large nose, a cleft lip, even crossed-eyes; and I’ll bathe in the jouissance of her intoxicating odour.”
― Roman Payne

“To remain conscious and continent was her new goal.”
― Louise Penny

“Your best is good enough.”
― Vivian E. Greenberg, Your Best Is Good Enough: Aging Parents and Your Emotions

“It behooves me to remember as I advance in age that death is an inevitable part of the life cycle rather than a medical failure.”
― Lisa J. Shultz, A Chance to Say Goodbye: Reflections on Losing a Parent

“Your age is measured by your dreams not by the years.”
― Amit Ray, Enlightenment Step by Step

“I’d loved women who were old and who were young; those extra kilos and large rumps, and others so thin there was barely even skin to pinch, and every time I held them, I worried I would snap them in two. But for all of these: where they had merited my love was in their delicious smell. Scent is such a powerful tool of attraction, that if a woman has this tool perfectly tuned, she needs no other. I will forgive her a large nose, a cleft lip, even crossed-eyes; and I’ll bathe in the jouissance of her intoxicating odour.”
― Roman Payne

“You do know, I hope, that no man under the age of forty can even approach fascinating.”
― Tasha Alexander, A Fatal Waltz

“It takes courage to dream, to face our futures and the limiting forces within us. It takes courage to be determined that, as we slow down physically, we are going to grow even more psychologically and spiritually. Courage, the philosopher Aristotle taught us, is the most important of all the virtues, because without it we can’t practice any of the others. Courage is the nearest star that can guide our growth. Maya Angelou said we must be courageous about facing and exploring our personal histories. We must find the courage to care and to create internally, as well as externally, and as she said, we need the courage “to create ourselves daily as Christians, as Jews, as Muslims, as thinking, caring, laughing, loving human beings.”
― Bud Harris

“She looked at his face. So old and wrinkled. So beautiful and just right.”
― R.J. Lawrence, The Xactilias Project

“I now urge friends and acquaintances to have conversations with their aging parents and within their families while their parents are still relatively healthy and of sound mind.”
― Lisa J. Shultz, A Chance to Say Goodbye: Reflections on Losing a Parent

“But nothing happened there now of a nature to provoke a disturbance. There were no complaints to the management or the police, and the dark glory of the upper galleries was a legend in such memories as that of the late Emiel Kroger and the present Pablo Gonzales, and one by one, of course, those memories died out and the legend died out with them. Places like the Joy Rio and the legends about them make one more than usually aware of the short bloom and the long fading out of things. ("The Mysteries of the Joy Rio")”
― Tennessee Williams, American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s to Now

“The myth of self-sufficiency demands optimism without end, downplays life’s challenges, and shames us when, inevitably, we fall short.”
― Ashton Applewhite, This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism

“Silent our body is a sacred temple,
A place to connect with other people.
Can't we just stay any younger?
Really, we might keep it stronger,
Elated, rather than so tilted or feeble!!”
― Ana Claudia Antunes, ACross Tic

“The rain is letting up, Mr. B. What do you want to do?'
'Oh, I’m gonna go fix the Weed Eater, and then, I’m gonna do dog patrol. At 97, I gotta find ways to keep moving!' He pushes himself up from the table. 'See ya later, kiddo.'
Joe has decided to get fit. Every day he hops onto our stationary bike that we left sitting on the back porch. He says it helps his balance. He times himself to ensure he rides it ten minutes a day. I bring him a glass of cool water to keep him hydrated. He refuses the water. 'I’m not used to drinking water, Miss.' His exercise routine would never be approved by a local gym.”
― Lynn Byk quoting Mister B.

“Age is proof of experience, not a disability.”
― Melody Carstairs

“My new deliberate and slower pace has created a higher quality in my experiences.”
― Lisa J. Shultz, Lighter Living: Declutter. Organize. Simplify.

“Losing the buffer zone of my parents meant I was next. I had a chance to craft a lighter finale for my future senior years. I didn’t want the final chapters of my life to be about stuff, and I didn’t want to abandon the responsibility of dealing with it myself.”
― Lisa J. Shultz, Lighter Living: Declutter. Organize. Simplify.

“Lightening my load of stuff and responsibilities freed me to look forward to planning and creating a living situation that was sustainable and lessened potential stress in caring for a home and its contents as I aged.”
― Lisa J. Shultz, Lighter Living: Declutter. Organize. Simplify.

“When you cease to make a contribution you begin to die. Therefore, I think it a necessity to be doing something which you feel is helpful in order to grow old gracefully and contentedly.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt on her 75th birthday

“A mature man does not lament aging, engage in adoration of the self through cosmetic treatments, and partake of drug therapy to prolong his virility. An independent thinker does not capitulate to societal pressures or other forms of coercion. I look forward to developing the bark of a rough man, the weathered, tough-skinned covertures that men take on only when they stand straight into the wind. I shall guard against disappointment, rebuff domination by cruel men, and repudiate the easy. I must steadfastly decline capitulating to the demands of power mongers by curing their favor at the cost of surrendering my inbreed essence. I resolve to battle any wicked person whom attempts to intimate me, maintain personal convictions, and honor my heritage. I need to summon the audacity to go against the grain, eschew shortcuts, and to work from intuition of a person who knows that logic is only half of the equation for true success. In order to live life through both the heart and the mind, I resolve to accept my unusual nature and embrace living spontaneously without shame, remorse, or regret.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

“True grief never goes away. We learn to live with it. After a while our friends stop asking and we stop discussing our sorrows. It doesn't help us that much and we realize that almost everyone who we have confided in carries grief deep in their hearts too. We often decide that once again, our job is to cheer others up.

Grief isn't just something to endure; it is also a reflection of our capacity to love. It allows us to understand the most profound human experience at the most intimate level. Facing our grief requires openness and courage. We must explore it with curiosity and patience and we must allow it to stay in our hearts until it is ready to leave.

Over time, by simply abiding with our sorrows, they will lessen. Yet as poet Linda Pastan wrote, "Grief is a circular staircase," We feel better and then we feel worse. Holidays...trigger grief reactions. we may have a rather good Year Two and then be felled by Year Three. With intention and skills, we move forward on our journey, but not without spiraling in the waters.”
― Mary Pipher, Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age

“Aging is inevitable, but getting "old" is entirely optional!”
― Lisa Levine

“So what happens when proovs get old?" he asks, as if the subject is close to his heart. "They age gracefully," Lanaya says with a smile. "That's the best we can do.”
― Rodman Philbrick, The Last Book in the Universe

“...unless you depend on your looks for your career or your joy, hinging your life on looking young is such a bad idea.”
― Margareta Magnusson, The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You

“You don’t understand this when you’re younger but at some point, you cease doing things, cease creating new memories,” he thought aloud. “You are stuck in a rocking chair. And all you have are your memories. Those beautiful droplets of color you’ve managed to steal from the rainbow. And you go back to them over and over and over, like a Catholic praying the rosary. You dig in deep, sifting through decades, years, seasons, weeks, hours, and seconds of your life, trying to figure out what it all meant. I wanted to come back to you. I wanted to see you in color, to grasp my own little rainbow.”
― Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev, Vanishing Bodies: An Epic Science Fiction Romance

“Our bodies are made of water, earth, wind, fire, and ether (emptiness). If the elements are organised and managed well, there will be health and balance. The body will not complain and will be a valuable tool for the hopefully hundred years we are here.”
― Donna Goddard, Geboor: Spiritual Fiction