Uplifting101 Quotes About Living Well ... ... and Disrupting Aging Created byFrom Niloy the Som from the NounEditors Project of AARP 1 Created by Niloy Som Niloy by Created Created by Niloy Som Project Noun the from from the Noun Project What makes someone quotable? Is it the quickness of their wit or the thoughtfulness of their view? In many cases, it’s both. Curated by the editors of AARP, we bring you this delightful mix of 101 quotes—some profound, many comical. They address the precise human emotions that are inevitably sparked by aging, parenting, working, exploring, struggling and even loving. Whether it’s a quip said under pressure or a thoughtful, nuanced view, there’s probably something that will resonate with everyone in this collection. 101 QUOTES ON LIVING WELL “Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. and 1.hundreds and thousands of others inspired me to get in trouble. What I call good trouble, Created by Niloy Som Niloy by Created necessary trouble. Project You Noun must the gofrom out there and get in trouble.” —civil rights leader & Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) 2.“You never go wrong when you take the high road— it’s less crowded up there.” —journalist Gayle King of CBS News “There is no greater vocation than to serve. But there 3. is no greater purpose than to love. Live a life that does both, and you’ll be truly happy.” —Senator John McCain “When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a 4. microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So, what the hell, leap.” —writer Cynthia Heimell “I think worry will make you sick. I’ve never seen it 5. accomplish anything. ... So I decided not to do it. You can’t do anything about it, why the hell worry about it?” —musician Willie Nelson “What I learned at a very early age was that I was 6.responsible for my life. And as I became more spiri- tually conscious, I learned that we all are responsible for ourselves, that you create your own reality by the way you think and therefore act. You cannot blame apartheid, your parents, your circumstances, because you are not your cir- cumstances. You are your possibilities. If you know that, you can do anything.” —Oprah Winfrey “Every day is another opportunity to learn 7. something new. Enjoy nature, which never disappoints. There is always something you can find that lifts your spirits.”—singer Tony Bennett 8.“No one ever said life was fair. Just eventful.” —comedian Carol Burnett 9.“I was taught failure is a part of the whole journey of life. When you fail, you learn, you get back up. It doesn’t mean you’re not worthy. It doesn’t mean that’s not what you’re meant to do.” —actress Viola Davis “Live your life and don’t be 10. influenced by society trying to make you feel some type of way about your age.” —Madonna “Don’t sabotage yourself. There are plenty of other 11. people willing to do that for free.” —“The Bloggess” Jenny Lawson “The older I get, the more of an effort 12. I make to enjoy life.” —Today news anchor Craig Melvin “There is nothing stronger than a broken woman 13. who has rebuilt herself.” —comedian Hannah Gadsby 14. “I haven’t got the slightest idea how to change people, but still I keep a long list of prospec- tive candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.” —writer David Sedaris “I asked her if I was black 15. or white. She replied ‘You are a human being. Educate yourself or you’ll be a nobody!’” —author James McBride in The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother 16.“I love the feeling of not knowing everything.” —chef Sean Brock “You know, failure hurts. 17. Any kind of failure stings. If you live in the sting, you will— undoubtedly—fail. My way of getting past the sting is to say no, I’m just not going to let this get me down.” —Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor 18.“Being normal is seriously overrated.” —writer Andrea Dworkin 101 QUOTES ON LIVING LONG “Often bumpy roads lead to beautiful places. 19.And this is a beautiful place.” —Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez after the team complet- Created by Niloy Som Niloy by Created ed a sweep inProject the NLNoun Championshipthe from Series “I have outlived most of my most viru- 20.lent critics. It gives me great pleasure to say that. Does that make me a bad per- son?” —novelist Stephen King 21.“I see hope—if you have the option to look for plau- sible hope—as a moral obli- gation. That’s not saying you should delude yourself. But it is not over until it is over.” —playwright Tony Kushner “All experience is great, providing you live through 22.it. If it kills you, you’ve gone too far.” —American portraitist Alice Neel “Everyone’s reputation is made on a daily basis. 23.There are little incremental things—worthwhile efforts, moments you were helpful to others—and after a lifetime, they can add up to something. You can feel as if you lived and it mattered.” —aviator Chesley B. Sullenberger 24. “I’m too old to be scared by much. You’re scared when you’re young. You don’t know the plot.” —author Margaret Atwood “I knew that I shouldn’t have, but I did it all the 25. same; and there you have my epitaph, or one of them, because my grave is going to require a monument in- scribed on all four sides with rueful mottoes, in small char- acters, set close together.” —author Michael Chabon 26. “I still sometimes whisper to myself, at least in my own head, ‘Pull no punches. Play no favorites. Keep knocking on doors and saying what’s going on in there?’ ” —journalist Dan Rather “When I talk of forgiveness I mean the belief that 27. you can come out the other side a better person. A better person than the one being consumed by anger and hatred. Remaining in that state locks you in a state of vic- timhood, making you almost dependent on the perpetrator. If you can find it in yourself to forgive, then you are no lon- ger chained to the perpetrator.” —Archbishop Desmond Tutu 28.“My life started over at 50; I feel happy, I feel beautiful. I thought, ‘I must have done something right for this to be happening.’ ” —singer Celine Dion “I am at the point where the yesteryears mean 29. more than the yesterdays.” —Scottish comic Billy Connolly “I appreciate the journey, even as it’s led me full 30. circle. I’ve learned that in your search for answers, you’ll always find your way back home.” —photographer Joshua Rashaad McFadden “It’s a myth that you can’t have it all. 31. When I was younger, I got some great advice: You can have it all—just maybe not all at the same time. That doesn’t mean you should stop trying to balance everything and strive to be the best you can be every day.” —actress Eva Longoria 32.“The main lesson I’ve learned is that ‘not being sure’ is the essen- tial condition of life.” —author Tim Lott “You know, a lot of people come to me 33. and they say, ‘Steve, how can you be so f---ing funny?’ There’s a secret to it, it’s no big deal. Before I go out, I put a slice of bologna in each of my shoes. So when I’m on stage, I feel funny.” —comedian Steve Martin 34.“I’ve been tested by fire and the fire lost.” —former Texas Governor Ann Richards “I don’t understand why people say, ‘I don’t want to 35. live forever.’ Why not?” —actor Alan Alda “I continue to go with my instinct of what I think is 36. funny, and I continue to make a living. That’s all that really matters. I’m not a big believer in shelf life.” —comedian Martin Short 37. “I never think about my age. Maybe that’s the ticket. I never think about it—it’s a pass- ing thought. It’s just a number. … I’ve found that work is very healthy for me. I love what I do and I put my heart and soul into it.” —fashion icon Iris Apfel 101 QUOTES 101 QUOTES ON WORK ON WORK “The things you get fired for when you’re young are 38. the same things you get Lifetime Achievements for when you’re old.” —director Francis Ford Coppola Created by Niloy Som Niloy by Created from the Noun Project Noun the from 39.“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” —basketball legend Michael Jordan “Most people overestimate 40. what they accomplish in one year, but underestimate what they can accomplish in 10 years.” —Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “After a certain age, we’re sup- 41. posed to just put on a pair of house slippers and fade into the drap- eries. That’s total garbage. There are women who start writing novels. Julia Child was 50 when she started walking down the culinary path. Grandma Mo- ses started painting at almost 80, for God’s sake.”—Canadian actress/singer Jann Arden “Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might 42.