23 Quotes on Getting Older and Keeping Your Spirit Young

Each and every one of us must seriously address the reality of getting older at some point. Whether we’re getting all philosophical about it or simply think about physical changes, this concern might actually turn into a phobia — gerascophobia.

Now that we have a name for it, we should remind ourselves that just as any other phobia, it feeds on our anxiety and irrational thoughts. Our perspective on a certain thing has the power to change it into something beautiful or horrible, just the same.

So instead of dwelling on the worse that could happen, why don’t we stay in the present moment and enjoy the good stuff that comes with every stage of our lives? Time might leave marks on our bodies, but when it comes to keeping our spirit young, we have full control.

We stop doing things that make us happy because other people tell us it’s childish. As long as you don’t hurt anyone, you should go ahead and do whatever you enjoy without thinking you’re too old for it.

Dance like no one’s watching, whether you’re 18 or 80; enjoy your ice-cream like you did when you were five; and never restrain from laughing, no matter how stupid a joke is.

Here are 23 quotes on getting older and keeping your spirit young:

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

There is a certain part of all of us that lives outside of time. Perhaps we become aware of our age only at exceptional moments and most of the time we are ageless.

MILAN JUNDERA

Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.

WALT DISNEY (more Walt Disney quotes)

None are as old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU (more Henry David Thoreau quotes)

Wrinkles merely mark where smiles have been.

MARK TWAIN (more Mark Twain quotes)

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

SATCHEL PAIGE

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.

JAMES A. GARFIELD

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

FRANZ KAFKA (more Franz Kafka quotes)

He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden.

PLATO

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

Les Brown

Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.

BETTY FRIEDAN

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.

UNKNOWN

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.

HENRY FORD

Growing old with someone else is beautiful, but growing old while being true to yourself is divine.

DODINSKY

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

I don’t believe in aging. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun.

VIRGINIA WOOLF

Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.

WALT DISNEY

Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

SATCHEL PAIGE

Know that you are the perfect age. Each year is special and precious, for you shall only live it once. Be comfortable with growing older.

LOUISE HAY

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

C.S. LEWIS (more C.S. Lewis quotes)

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideas. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

SAMUEL ULLMAN