Birthday Quotes To Celebrate Life, Age and Friendships

Looking for inspirational birthday quotes?

It is always fun to celebrate birthdays and think about the many things that have been said about or that relate to them.

Share your favorite birthday quote with us in the comment section below.

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• Happy birthday quotes for a friend
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What are the benefits of reading these birthday quotes?

Aside from getting wiser, one can delight in good food and good company.

Here are some awesome birthday quotes to liven up your big day and perhaps even share with family and friends.

These birthday quotes will inspire you to:

• create the perfect birthday post on social media
• include a thoughtful and heartfelt message in a birthday card or flower arrangement
• treat each birthday like the gift it is and be grateful for the year you have had
• reflect on the challenges of the year and know that you can make changes

Remember to check out our collection of funny birthday quotes and these birthday messages for a friend.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Explore our complete collection of motivational quotes here.

Famous Birthday Quotes Celebrating Life

1. “Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” – C.S. Lewis

Getting older (and hopefully wiser), we face old age, our senior years. Perhaps Emily Dickinson has the right idea:

You will also enjoy our article on 60th birthday quotes.

2. “We turn not older with years, but newer every day” – Emily Dickinson

Sam Hagar reinforced this idea saying:

3. “Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.” – Sam Hagar

You will also enjoy our article on happy birthday quotes.

4. “Count your age by friends, not years, your life by smiles, not tears.” – John Lennon

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5. “May your years be counted not by your age but by how you spend your days.” – Catherine Pulsifer

You will also enjoy our article on turning 30 quotes for your loved ones.

6. “Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.” – Jean Paul Richter

Band leader Les Brown emphasized:

7. “You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – Les Brown

You will also enjoy our article on best happy quotes about life.

8. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

While I was still in school, I had to read writings by ancient philosophers. I never thought they were relevant to me. As another birthday approaches, I’ve looked at some of those words of wisdom, re-evaluating their relevance.

Perhaps they are things that I’ve learned to live by, to accept – and yes – use as birthday quotes:

9. “God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” – Voltaire

You will also enjoy our article on Mamma Mia quotes.

10. “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” – William Shakespeare

Inspirational Birthday Quotes and Sayings

Mark Twain agreed,

11. “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” – Mark Twain

Certainly some good things to remember as we celebrate birthdays! Samuel Ullman said:

12. “Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.” – Samuel Ullman

At birthday gatherings, you also might also want to quote:

13. “Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.” – Plautus

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of wine quotes to celebrate over your favorite glass.

14. “Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is,” – E. Fromm

You will also enjoy our article on 60 amazing quotes loving life.

15. “Age is opportunity no less than youth itself.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of age quotes for the young and the young at heart.

16. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony,” – Mahatma Gandhi

You will also enjoy our article on Rumi quotes.

17. “I’m like a fine wine. They don’t bring me out very much, but I am well preserved.” – Rose Kennedy

You will also enjoy our article on sunflower quotes.

18. “Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art,” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Of course, in discussing getting older, other pearls of wisdom are shared:

19. “The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune,” – English Proverb

You will also enjoy our article on party quotes.

20. “None are as old as those who have outlived enthusiasm,” – Henry David Thoreau

Also, read these young at heart quotes for the young and young at heart.

Birthday Quotes and sayings to uplift you

21. “It’s not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, They grow old because they stop pursuing dreams,” – Gabriel G. Marquez

Another great birthday quote, this one by a comedian, is:

22. “Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Jack Benny

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23. “You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” – George Burns

With laughter, Bob Hope said,

24. “You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.” – Bob Hope

Who would want to fix things?

25. “If we could be twice young and twice old, we could correct all our mistakes,” – Euripides

For those with a strong belief in God:

26. “Our life is a gift from the Creator. Your gift back to the Creator is what you do with your life,” – Billy Mills

Hearts are always mentioned with birthdays:

27. “Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty –

They merely move it from their faces into their hearts,” – Martin Buxbaum

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28. “The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious,” – Martin Luther

Some U.S. Presidents have made some birthday quotes:

29. “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm,” – Lincoln

30. “Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Lincoln

If you enjoy this article, check out our collection of birth quotes for giving birth to new ideas.

Happy Birthday Quotes that will make your day

31. “Let us seek the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future,” – Kennedy

Words of wisdom for aging from Confucius:

32. “Study the past if you would define the future!”

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33. “It doesn’t matter how slowly you go, so long as you don’t stop.”

34. “Choose a job you love. You will never have to work a day in your life.”

35. “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”

As we grow older, may we remember these wise quotes:

35. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the one most responsive to change.” – Darwin

36. “It’s the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle

37. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Einstein

38. “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal,” – Henry Ford

39. “Don’t celebrate how old you are. Celebrate the years you survived.” – Touaxia Vang

40. “Don’t anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen.” – Ben Franklin

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Happy Birthday Quotes and Wishes to make you strong

Since first reading Dr. Seuss, my favorite birthday quote has been:

41. “Today you are You; that is truer than true.

There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”  – Dr. Seuss

Can we live with that idea? Here’s what I always say:

42. “Wow, thank you Lord for another great chance to make a difference.”

43. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” – Tolkien

So, as we all age – day by day, and as I pray I get to reach 70 in a couple of years, I often repeat this quote:

44. “I don’t mind getting older; it’s a privilege denied to so many!” ― Chris Geiger, ‘The Cancer Survivors Club’

If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of getting older quotes that will make you embrace the beauty in aging.

45. “A birthday is the anniversary of your birth. It’s the time most of us reflect over the past year and what we hope for in the coming year.” – Claudia T Hudson

46. “Today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. Make the most of it!” – Nicky Gumbel

47. “There are two attitudes you can have when it comes to your birthday:
1. be thankful you have lived another year.
or, 2. complain about being a year older.” – Catherine Pulsifer

48. “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” – Cherokee Expression

49. “Your age isn’t you. Use today to feel your best, celebrate and be your very happiest.” – M. Rivers

50. “A birth-date is a reminder to celebrate the life as well as to update the life.” – Amit Kalantri

More birthday quotes for friends, family, and loved ones

51. “A birthday is not a day to fear. It is a day to celebrate and look forward to the coming year.” – Byron Pulsifer

52. “Birthdays are inevitable, beautiful and very particular moments in our lives! Moments that bring precious memories back, celebrate the present times and give hope for the future.” – Bsbr Arish

53. “Your birthday is my pleasure. You are my sweetest treasure.” – Danny Demeersseman

54. “We have to be able to grow up. Our wrinkles are our medals of the passage of life. They are what we have been through and who we want to be.” – Lauren Hutton

55. “Your birthday is the beginning of your own personal new year. Your first birthday was a beginning, and each new birthday is a chance to begin again, to start over, to take a new grip on life.” – Wilfred Peterson

56. “I enjoy celebrating birthdays. Everyone should have their birthday celebrated.” – Loraine D. Nunley

Yes, I am grateful that I’m still alive. But life isn’t forever, so remember:

57. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Henry Ford agreed:

58. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80.

Anyone who keeps learning stays young.

The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young”. – Henry Ford

59. “Birthdays come but once a year, celebrate and be of good cheer.” – Robert Rivers

60. “Each year as our birthday comes, our thoughts and beliefs may change a bit from year to year. But believe our wish for you is always the same, may you find happiness and blessings all of your days!” – Catherine Pulsifer

Inspirational birthday quotes for him

61. “Birthdays could be such a bummer when you were older than the country you lived in.” – Lynsay Sands

62. “Every day is a gift. But some days are packaged better.” – Sanhita Baruah

63. “Birthdays are happy as a child, defeatist with age and joyful again at surviving another year.” – Stewart Stafford

64. “Birthdays were made for going wild over the people we think are amazing.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

65. “The only way that getting older can be a bad thing is if you are not fully living in the moment now.” – Andrena Sawyer

66. “Rather than see aging as a reason to contract, we should view it as an opportunity to expand. We should make each year of our lives are more interesting than the one before.” – Srinivas Rao

67. “Every birthday celebrates a life because every life is important.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

68. “Birthday should be considered as a unit of measurement to measure our present status toward success!” – Mohith Agadi

69. “Birthdays; They never cease to exist, and like birthdays you will never cease to exist in my heart.” – Xela Ffronrims

70. “Birthdays are special days. It reminds us of that day when the heavens gave miracles our way. You are a MIRACLE. Bless yourself. Bless others. Be a blessing.” – Mystqx Skye

Wise birthday quotes about growing older

71. “You don’t get older, you get better.” — Shirley Bassey

72. “To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.” — Bernard Baruch

73. “Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it.” — Brigitte Bardot

74. “The way I see it, you should live everyday like it’s your birthday.” — Paris Hilton

75. “Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.” — Edward Morykwas

76. “The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” — Lucille Ball

77. “Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.” — Fred Astaire

78. “We are always the same age inside” – Gertrude Stein

79. “A birthday is like a new year and my wish for you is a great year full of happiness and sunshine!”  — Catherine Pulsifer

80. “Birthdays are a great time to stop and appreciate gravity. Sure, it makes things sag as you get older, but it also keeps your cake from flying all over the room, so you don’t have to chase it.” — Greg Tamblyn

Birthday quotes to help make your day spectacular

81. “You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” – John Mason

82. “Please don’t retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them.” — Anna Magnani

83. “Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wings of time.” – Jean Paul Richter

84. “Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.” – Larry Lorenzoni

85. “The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything.” — Oscar Wilde

86. “Live long and prosper.” — Mr. Spock

87. “Put candles in a cake, it’s a birthday cake. Put candles in a pie, and somebody’s drunk in the kitchen.” — Jim Gaffigan

88. “As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.” — Norman Wisdom

89. “The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” – Lucille Ball

90. Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years. — Ausonius

More birthday quotes and wishes

91. “Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.” – Booth Tarkington

92. “It’s sad to grow old, but nice to ripen.” – Brigitte Bardot

93. “When you wake up every day, it’s like a new birthday: it’s a new chance to be great again and make great decisions.” – Poo Bear

94. “I decided if you’re lucky enough to be alive, you should use each birthday to celebrate what your life is about.” – Mary Steenburgen

95. “Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.” – Tom Wilson

96. “We all want to shout hip-hip-hooray
As we wish you a Happy Birthday!”

97. “Be stronger and more confident when facing problems on a daily basis. I wish you nothing but the best in life.”

98. “I wish you happiness and peace in life
and many more birthdays to bring you delight.”

99. “Happy Birthday to you, my friend. You deserve a great day.”

100. “Congratulations on your birthday! Wishing you a truly fabulous day.”

Birthday quotes about giving gifts, getting presents, and cake

101. “At my age flowers scare me.” — George Burns

102. “Love the giver more than the gift.” — Brigham Young

103. “My policy on cake is pro having it and pro eating it.” — Boris Johnson

104. “All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.” — George Harrison

105. “The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.” —  Brian Tracy

106. “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

107. “You know you’re getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It’s like, ‘See if you can blow this out.’” — Jerry Seinfeld

108. “There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.” — Lewis Carroll

109. “You are amazing and wonderful and that is what I hope your birthday will be like – amazing and wonderful.” – Theodore W. Higginsworth

110. “Cakes are special. Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. It’s all about the memories.” — Buddy Valastro

Birthday quotes about the meaning of life

111. “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey

112. “May the moments of today become fond memories for tomorrow. Happy Birthday.” – Rob Jackson

113. “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” – Satchel Paige

114. “There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” – William Barclay

115. “Don’t just count your years, make your years count.” – George Meredith

116. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

117. “The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.” – Madeleine L’Engle

118. “It is lovely, when I forgot all birthdays, including my own, to find that somebody remembers me.” – Ellen Glasgow

119. “Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.” – Chili Davis

120. “A birthday is just another day where you go to work and people give you love. Age is just a state of mind, and you are as old as you think you are. You have to count your blessings and be happy.” – Abhishek Bachchan

Birthday Quotes To Make You Appreciate The Blessing of Another Year

121. “Don’t regret another birthday, the good news is that you are alive and can celebrate it.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

122. “We should celebrate every year that we made it through and every year that we’re happier and healthier.” ― Elllen DeGeneres

123. “I believe that no matter what condition you are in when someone close to your heart remembers your birthday and wishes you a happy birthday, you feel happy.” ― A. Singla

124. “Birthdays don’t come easy. They just come every year.” ― Danielle Duckery

125. “A birthday is a time to reflect, to take stock and to look ahead. It is the day you entered the world. No great shakes to anyone else, but to you – everything.” ― Kevan Manwaring

126. “A birthday is a time to count our blessings.” ― Leroy Brownlow

127. “Our hope this year, for you my dear, is a year of happiness and joy. May the coming year bring all you dream of and more!” ― Catherine Pulsifer

128. “The way I see it, you should live everyday like its your birthday.” ― Paris Hilton

129. “Today you are another year older, and we know how fast time flys as we get older, therefore, live each day and be happy!” ― Kate Summers

130. “An angel you have been to me. Today, on this special day I want you to know how much you are loved and appreciated every day of the year. Happy Birthday.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

Birthday Quotes To Celebrate Life And Make a Wish

131. “I love having my birthday at Australia Zoo.” — Bindi Irwin 

132. “Citizens, thank you for all your birthday wishes. I am 88 years old today and still lucky to live in the greatest city in the world.” — Ed Koch

133. “The lovely thing about being forty is that you can appreciate twenty-five-year-old men more.” — Colleen McCullough

134. “It is not length of life, but depth of life.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

135. “Most of us can remember a time when a birthday – especially if it was one’s own – brightened the world as if a second sun has risen.” — Robert Staughton Lynd

136. “I like to go to anybody else’s birthday, and if I’m invited I’m a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don’t care.” — Mikhail Baryshnikov

137. “In 1993 my birthday present was a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.” — Annette Funicello

138. “If there’s one thing I really want for my birthday, that is for the mining company not to mine my daddy’s reserve.” — Bindi Irwin

139. “I love photography. My boyfriend’s got a great camera, which I bought for his birthday.” — Sarah Sutton

140. “All I want for my birthday is another birthday.” — Ian Dury

Birthday Quotes to Remind You of Your Special Day

141. “Do you count your birthdays thankfully?” ― Horace

142. “A birthday is a time to reflect on the year gone by, but to also set your goals for the upcoming year.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

143. “Enjoy how sweet, how thoughtful, how kind I’m being on your birthday. Because tomorrow it’s back to the same old crap.” ― Melvin Helitzer

144. “My birthday affords me the welcome opportunity to express my feelings of deep gratitude for the ideal working and living conditions which have been placed at my disposal in the United States.” ― Albert Einstein

145. “Believing, hear, what you deserve to hear: / Your birthday as my own to me is dear… / But yours gives most; for mine did only lend / Me to the world; yours gave to me a friend.” ― Martial

146. “One of the sadder things, I think, / Is how our birthdays slowly sink: / Presents and parties disappear, / The cards grow fewer year by year.” ― Philip Larkin

147. “My birthday was a natural disaster, a shower of paper, full of flattery, under which one almost drowned.” ― Albert Einstein

148. “For weeks I’ve been telling him not to buy anything for my birthday, and he still forgot to bring me something.” ― Tanya Noe

149. “Happy Birthday, Johnny, / Live beyond your income, / Travel for enjoyment, / Follow your own nose.” ― W.H. Auden

150. “People who have the most birthdays live the longest.” ― Jean Bucher

Birthday Quotes About Wishes for a Wonderful Birthday

151. “When people ask me my age, I tell them it is unlisted just like my phone number. Perhaps this birthday year it may be a good idea for you to unlist your number.” ― Kate Summers

152. “A birthday comes but once a year and we don’t want you to shed a tear. Here’s to you on your special day, your a living legend we do say.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

153. “I love to celebrate my children’s birthdays, but I don’t really like planning birthday parties.” ― Sarah Williams

154. “A special person you are to me, you deserve the best of everything. So may this birthday and the coming year be one that offers you the best that life may bring.” ― Kate Summers

155. “What is a birthday without a cake, at least one candle burning on it, and a huddle of well-wishers, wearing clownish hats, singing in their ragged, hoary voices?” ― Mark Buchanan

156. “Happy Birthday to my Brother! I like it when people ask if we’re related. That means there’s still an element of doubt.” ― Phil Bolsta

157. “Fly free and happy beyond birthdays and across forever, and we’ll meet now and then when we wish, in the midst of the one celebration that never can end.” ― Richard Bach

158. “You bring happiness into my life. And on this birthday my wish and hope is that you are happy today.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

159. “The years are ticking away, so let this birthday be the day that you set your goals to accomplish the things you are currently only dreaming about for your life!” ― Catherine Pulsifer

160. “Another year has passed, a birthday for you is in store. May you find this coming year be one with lots of open doors.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

Did you find your favorite birthday quotes here?

Birthdays are special days to celebrate among people we love and remind us of how far we’ve come in life.

Keep these beautiful quotes handy as a gift to yourself on this occasion.

Which birthday quotes will you use to help celebrate your big day?

Check out these turning 50 quotes if you are celebrating this milestone!

Let us know in the comment section below.

By

Anna Renault

January 26, 2023 5:00 AM EST