Retirement is a time of celebration and excitement for some. The freedom it gives allows them to try new things and experience the world. But for others it’s filled with fear and worry.
It marks the end of their usefulness and the beginning of old age. So sometimes they, or you, might need a bit of inspiring if retirement has arrived or is on the horizon. Something to change your outlook on retirement.
Show the positives and new beginnings it can bring about. And a great way to do that is with some inspirational retirement quotes.
That’s why we’ve put together a huge list of the best and most famous retirement quotes out there. You’ll find quotes to make you laugh, think, or just inspire you to seize the day and grab retiring by the horns. And if you’re looking for the perfect accompaniment for a retirement card or gift then these quotes are perfect too.
So use these sayings to inspire and show retirement in it’s best light.
Inspirational Retirement Quotes
“Congratulations on making it over the all the hurdles and reaching that wonderful time of life where you get to do whatever you want.” ~ Stella Rheingold
“Others will keep working because the “gold” in our so-called “golden years” doesn’t have to come from watching sunsets.” ~ Arianna Huffington
“The key to retirement is to find joy in the little things.” ~ Susan Miller
“Retirement life is different because there is no set routine. You are able to let the day unfold as it should. Enjoy, be happy and live each day.” ~ Suzanne Steel
“Retire from work, but not from life.”
~ M.K. Soni
“Retirement has been a discovery of beauty for me. I never had the time before to notice the beauty of my grandkids, my wife, and the tree outside my very own front door. And, the beauty of time itself.” ~ Hartman Jule
“Have you ever been out for a late autumn walk in the closing partof the afternoon, and suddenly looked up to realize that the leaves have practically all gone? And the sun has set and the day gone before you knew it, and with that a cold wind blows across the landscape? That’s retirement.” ~ Stephen Leacock
“Don’t act your age, in retirement. Act like the inner young person you have always been.” ~ J. A. West
“Today we are living longer and retiring earlier, allowing us twenty-five or more years to pursue lifelong goals and passions. Rather than fading into the sunset, we have time to rediscover our personal uniqueness, deepen relationships, and question the mysteries of life.” ~ Douglas Fletcher
“For many, retirement is a time for personal growth, which becomes the path to greater personal freedom.” ~ Robert Delamontagne
“We have no porch, no rocking chair and no time. My biggest need is a calendar because there are so many things to do. Now I encourage people to retire – the younger the better.” ~ Maurice Musholt
“A time of retirement is the realization that pleasure comes from doing what I enjoy, while meaning comes from doing what is important to me. My purpose in retirement completely shifts to that which is meaningful to others while partaking in what provides satisfaction provides its reward” ~ Theordore W. Higgingsworth
“Retirement is not an end, but rather a new beginning, an opportunity for growth, creativity, and the discovery of one’s authentic self.” ~ George McHenry
“As in all successful ventures,
the foundation of a good retirement is planning” ~ Earl Nightingale
“Retirement, a time to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, where you want to do it, and how you want to do it.” ~ Catherine Pulsifer
“Retirement may be an ending, a closing, but it is also a new beginning.” ~ Catherine Pulsifer
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
“Don’t simply retire from something; have something to retire to.” ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
“Sit back and relax and do the things you never got a chance to do.” ~ Julie Hebert
“Retirement – now life begins.” ~ Catherine Pulsifer
“Life begins at retirement.” ~ Unknown
“Please remember that retirement is a different way of life, with new challenges and opportunities. You need to adapt and adjust to this new lifestyle, and that takes time, effort, and creativity.” Rick Steiner Ph.D.
“Planning to retire? Before you do find your hidden passion, do the thing that you have always wanted to do.” ~ Catherine Pulsifer
“Retirement means doing whatever I want to do. It means choice.” ~ Dianne Nahirny
“Retirement does not mean that you are all through. It means that you have experienced a big break-through to a new freedom, with the time to do the things you’ve always wanted to do.” ~ Wilfred Peterson
“Retirement is a time for personal growth, which becomes the path to greater personal freedom.” ~ Mark Evan Chimsky
“Stay young at heart, kind in spirit, and enjoy retirement living.” Danielle Duckery
“Retirement is supposed to be the great escape from the stresses inherent in most jobs, a time to experience a fulfilling life derived from many enjoyable and rewarding activities.” ~ Ernie J. Zelinski
“Retirement is wonderful if you have two essentials – much to live on and much to live for.” ~ Unknown
“Maybe the word ‘retirement’ makes you think of old age, boredom and laziness, but I’d rather have you try think of it as freedom to do what you want, freedom to be as active as you’d like, and even freedom to work the job that you like – to be in a place where money doesn’t dictate your choices.” ~ Rex Dalen
“As your life changes, it takes time to recalibrate, to find your values again. You might also find that retirement is the time when you stretch out and find your potential.” ~ Sid Miramontes
“As you embark on the exciting journey into retirement, you will experience a transition that will be both thrilling and terrifying.” ~ Olivia Greenwell
“No longer having to punch a time clock is my definition of retirement. That way I could do what I want, when I want, anytime I want.” ~ Brooky Brown
“The idea of retirement both excites and terrifies people. After decades of working full-time, visions of throwing out the alarm clock for good are certainly provocative.” ~ Belinda Tucker
“Retirement can be an opportunity to enjoy life in a new way, the right to stop work and do the 1,001 things you’ve always wanted to do but never had time for, and a chance to give yourself over to new challenges and adventures.” Sara Yogev
“Retirement itself is the best gift. No gold watch could ever top it.” ~ Abigail Charleson
“You can compare a person’s retirement partly to that of an automobile’s or any other device. There comes a time when you have to slow down or completely stop doing what you’ve been doing for the past 20 or 30 years and take a well-deserved break.” ~ Adrian J.Williams
“The joy of retirement comes in those everyday pursuits that embrace the joy of life; to experience daily the freedom to invest one’s life-long knowledge for the betterment of others; and, to allocate time to pursuits that only received, in years of working, a fleeting moment.” ~ Byron Pulsifer
“Retire the word ‘retirement’ from your vocabulary. Look it up: it means to ‘withdraw’ or ‘retreat.’ Words can shape reality, and it’s time for this one to go. Doesn’t ‘renaissance’ or ‘graduation’ or ‘transition’ better describe your postcareer life?” ~ Marika Stone
“Just because you are getting older and have retired doesn’t mean that you should have less confidence in your abilities. Think about the experience and knowledge that you have gained by all the years you have worked!” ~ Theodore W. Higginsworth
“There are so many other interesting ways to spend your time. I feellike early retirement is a gift, but it’s such an incredible gift. It’s a gift I need to use.” ~ Martha Felt-Bardon
“For retirement brings repose, and repose allows a kindly judgment of all things.” ~ John Sharp Williams
“Retirement is still a perfectly good word, but we need to rein in its usage now that its original meaning is no longer all that relevant because people are living longer, healthier, more active lives.” ~ Mike Drak
“I don’t hear a lot of so-called experts talk about dreaming as part of a healthy retirement plan. Maybe that’s why when most people hear the word retirement they usually feel a sense of dread and despair.” ~ Dave Ramsey
“Best wishes on your retirement. Enjoy a rest that’s overdue. Take pleasure in the finer things that are awaiting you.” ~ Judith Wibberley
“When you ‘retire,’ you’re on your own. No longer is most of your life ahead. You don’t have forever to fulfill promises. But there’s also good news: Now, going forward, can be the most important part of your life, when it all comes together – your experience, wisdom, and successes.” ~ Michael Jeans
“Retirement, a time to enjoy all the things you never had time to do when you worked.” ~ Catherine Pulsifer
“A thriving “New Beginning” can be and should be a time for amazing engagement, growth, connections, contributions and increased possibilities.” ~ Lee M. Brower
“Are you ready to retire? Only one person can answer that question – YOU! Please don’t leave that important decision to your spouse, your co-workers, or your family … it is your choice when to retire and how to travel down that retirement path.” ~ Wendy S. Fisher
Funny Retirement Quotes
A good way to make people feel better about retirement is to laugh at it. Having a joke and making fun of the whole process can help to relax someone and help them feel more positive towards retiring. So use these funny retirement quotes for cheering up a friend or colleague by finding the humour in retiring.
“Working people have alot of bad habits, but the worst of these is work.” ~ Clarence Darrow
“Sooner or later I’m going to die, but I’m not going to retire.” ~ Margaret Mead
“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
“The company gave me an aptitude test and I found out the best work I was best suited for was retiremen” ~ Unknown
The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” ~ Abe Lemons
“Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.” ~ Jonathan Clements
“I’m retired – goodbye tension, hello pension!” ~ Unknown
“The best time to start thinking about your retirement is before the boss does.” ~ Unknown
“I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day.” ~ Gene Perret
When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking.” ~ Gail Sheehy
“A retired husband is often a wife’s full-time job.” ~ Ella Harris
“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
“I’ve been attending lots of seminars in my retirement. They’re called naps.” ~ Merri Brownworth
When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband but only half the income.” ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez
Short Retirement Quotes
These quotes are quick and simple, getting to the heart of retirement and what it means without any fuss. If you want to inspire a retiring friend you could share one of these short quotes on Facebook or Twitter.
“A man is known by the company that keeps him on after retirement age.” ~ Unknown
“Retirement is wonderful. It’s doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.” ~ Gene Perret
“Retirement: World’s longest coffee break.” ~ Author Unknown
“‘Retiring’ – within that word is ‘tiring,’ and I’m not tired. I don’t believe in retirement, really.” ~ Theodore Bikel
“Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry
that you retire.” ~ Samuel Johnson
“People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach retirement age seem very admirable to me.” ~ Helen Hayes
“Retirement itself is the best gift. No gold watch could ever top it.” ~ Abigail Charleson
People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach retirement age seem very admirable to me.” ~ Helen Hayes