At a picnic table at a park, two older men in white dress shirts play a game of chess. Five senior citizens can be seen convening at another picnic table in the background.

Since the beginning of civilization, senior citizens have played an essential role in society. They've historically represented wisdom, earned through a life filled with experience. While promotional experts are aware that senior stereotypes are changing, senior citizens continue to serve as experts in their field, as mentors, and as invaluable sources of skills and knowledge.

With the average U.S. life expectancy rising from 68 years in 1950 to 78.6 years in 2017, the country has more senior citizens now than ever before. Many are without the resources and connections they need to remain happy and healthy, and stigmas surrounding the elderly prevent many from taking action to help. While there are many challenges in supporting an aging population, it's essential to take time to celebrate the wisdom and unique perspectives our elderly population offers.

The following quotes, slogans, and puns address the joy of one's golden years, the worries associated with aging, and the stigmas that affect elderly populations, often with an inspirational or whimsical tone. Read on for some ruminations and turns of phrase that are sure to inspire thought and put a smile on your face.

Funny and Inspirational Quotes About Aging

Authors and speakers around the world have reflected on the importance of senior citizens, often leading to thought-provoking insights. By printing such phrases on promotional items for senior citizens that remind them of vitality and regrowth, such as sprout pouches or compostable seed stakes, you can send a powerful positive message. Read below for inspirational and heartwarming quotes about what it truly means to grow older:

  • "The spirit never ages. It stays forever young." – Lailah Gifty Akita
  • "To keep the heart unwrinkled — to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent — that is to triumph over old age." – Thomas Bailey Aldrich
  • "Almost all my middle-aged and elderly acquaintances, including me, feel about 25 — unless we haven't had our coffee, in which case we feel 107." – Martha Beck
  • "Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been." – David Bowie
  • " … (H)e 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." – Cephalus
  • "Old age … is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator." – Confucius
  • "You don't have a future when you refuse to accept the former generation. Simple." – Petra Hermans
  • "Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art." – Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
  • "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." – Abraham Lincoln
  • "It's not the specter of aging that haunts me. Rather, it's the far greater fear of having aged and having nothing to show for the aging." – Craig D. Lounsbrough
  • "The great thing about getting older is that you get a chance to tell the people in your life who matter what they mean to you." – Mike Love
  • "Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young." – Theodore Roosevelt
  • "Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been." – Mark Twain
  • "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
  • "The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes." – Frank Lloyd Wright

Senior Citizen & Sayings

In addition to the thought-provoking quotes above, there are many slogans, proverbs, and folk sayings that offer some grains of wisdom and cheer. These can create feelings of warmth, and they are excellent options when personalizing promotional items for older individuals such as a set of playing cards, a medicine bottle opener, or a 7-day medicine dispenser. Try sharing some of these with loved senior citizens in your life to brighten their day:

  • Age is just a number
  • As with wine, life gets better with age
  • Growing old is inevitable, but growing up is optional
  • I've got 99 problems, but age ain't one
  • Not just a year older — a year better!
  • Old enough to retire; young enough to enjoy it
  • One gets more from years of experience than books
  • Respect old age; it's your future!
  • The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune
  • The only thing that comes to you without effort is old age
  • There's no age limit on life
  • These are the golden years!
  • Wherever life takes you, go with all your heart
  • You're never too old for anything
  • You're only as old as you feel

Senior Citizen Puns & Jokes About Getting Older

Want to inspire some laughs from your friends and family? Try some of the following one-liners. These can lighten the mood and also make great personalization options for fun items like wobbly stress relievers. Check out the senior citizen puns and jokes below:

  • Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!
  • A retired husband is a wife's full-time job
  • Children are the leading cause of old age
  • Don't let aging get you down; it's too hard to get back up!
  • Don't think of them as "hot flashes." Think of them as your inner child playing with matches
  • How are stars like dentures? Both come out at night
  • I called the incontinence hotline. They asked if I could hold
  • I've decided: Whatever age I am is the new 30
  • Now that I've become a senior, everything's starting to click for me! My knees, my back, my neck…
  • Old people are just young people who have been alive for a very long time
  • Old age isn't so bad, considering the alternative
  • One benefit of old age is that your secrets are safe with your friends — they can't remember them either!
  • With old age comes wisdom… and discounts!
  • Young at heart, old everywhere else
  • Youth is wasted on the young

Growing older can inspire many feelings — some positive and some negative. The slogans and sayings listed above can inspire laughs and moments of reflection. They can remind senior citizens of their worth to society and give them feelings of affirmation during times of stress or uncertainty.