80 Retirement Quotes - Inspirational and Funny Retirement Sayings

Last updated: February 17, 2023

Retirement quotes are a fantastic way of making the retiree in your life feel recognized and appreciated. Whether you're looking for retirement quotes for coworkers or for a friend, these quotes are perfect for writing in a message or card.

retirement quotes couple on beach with sunset

Retirement is a huge moment in someone's life. Many people are thrilled to retire, because they will finally have time to pursue hobbies and activities they've always wanted to do. For others it might be a more difficult and sad time as they let go of a beloved career.

If you're wondering what to write in a retirement card, we've got you covered. Inspirational retirement quotes are uplifting and give the retiree in your life plenty to reflect on. Funny retirement quotes and funny retirement one liners are the best choice when you don't want to be too serious.

To find the best quote on retirement, check out our collection below. Scroll down the page to find the perfect retirement quote, or click on the links below to jump to a particular section.

Funny Retirement Quotes

The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.
~ Abe Lemons

The best time to start thinking about your retirement is before the boss does.
~ Author Unknown

You have to put off being young until you can retire.
~ Author Unknown

A retired husband is often a wife's full-time job.
~ Ella Harris

I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day.
~ Gene Perret

My retirement plan is to get thrown into a minimum security prison in Hawaii.
~ Julius Sharpe

What do you call a person who is happy on a Monday? Retired.
~ Unknown

Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.
~ Gene Perret

Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it to the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.
~ Jonathan Clements

Retirement: It's nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese.
~ Gene Perret

retirement quotes couple dancing on beach

Inspirational Retirement Quotes

Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else.
~ Fred Rogers

And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
~ Abraham Lincoln

You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.
~ C.S. Lewis

Retirement is a blank sheet of paper. It is a chance to redesign your life into something new and different.
~ Patrick Foley

I see retirement as just another of these reinventions, another chance to do new things and be a new version of myself.
~ Walt Mossberg

Living each day as if it were your last doesn't mean your last day of retirement on a remote island. It means to live fully, authentically and spontaneously with nothing being held back.
~ Jack Canfield

Retirement gives you the time literally to recreate yourself through a sport, game or hobby that you always wanted to try or that you haven't done in years.
~ Steven Price

Life is your artwork. Create it! No one else can do it for you. You create it by seeing life, and living it to its fullest.
~ Max Ehrmann

The key to retirement is to find joy in the little things.
~ Susan Miller

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
~ Lyrics from Closing Time by Semisonic

Retirement Quotes on Aging

Don't act your age in retirement. Act like the inner young person you have always been.
~ J. A. West

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.
~ Sophia Loren

You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Retirement: When you stop lying about your age and start lying around the house.
~ Unknown

Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.
~ Albert Einstein

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
~ Mark Twain

Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Except for an occasional heart attack, I feel as young as I ever did.
~ Robert Benchley

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
~ C.S. Lewis

Retirement Quotes for Coworkers

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

Working people have a lot of bad habits, but the worst of these is work.
~ Clarence Darrow

Retire from work, but not from life.
~ M.K. Soni

I found out retirement means playing golf, or I don't know what the hell it means. But to me, retirement means doing what you have fun doing.
~ Dick Van Dyke

Jump in! The water is fine!
~ Anonymous

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
~ Steve Jobs

If you feel like there's something out there that you're supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.
~ Wanda Sykes

The best part about being retired is never having to request time off.
~ Unknown

Happy days are here at last, the days of nine to five are passed, you've worked your life and paid your dues, now you can do just what you choose!
~ Anon

Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to great places. You're off and away!
~ Dr. Seuss

Retirement Quotes from the Company

Congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for everything you have done for [Company name]. You will be deeply missed by us all.

From everyone at [Company name], we'd like to wish you our sincerest congratulations on your retirement. We are grateful for all your hard work over the years. Your presence will be sorely missed.

A huge congratulations to you on your well-earned and well-deserved retirement. We're so happy for you, but also sad to see you go. May this next chapter of your life be filled with fun and relaxation.

Thank you for inspiring us at work every single day. It's not going to be the same here without you. Wishing you all the very best on your hard-earned retirement.

We have all learnt so much from you over the years. Your hard work and great attitude has always been appreciated and will be deeply missed. Congratulations on your retirement.

A big congratulations to you on your retirement. What an impact you have made at [Company name] over the years. While you will be sorely missed, we are also happy for you, that you will be able to enjoy all your hobbies and spend more time with your beautiful family.

Congratulations on your retirement, from everyone at [Company name]. It's time to relax and celebrate all you have achieved over the years.

Thank you for always being the most helpful person in the office. What are we going to do without you!? While we are happy for you, [Company name] will not be the same. Wishing you all the very best for your retirement.

We will all miss your energy, enthusiasm, and most of all, your unfailing dedication to helping this place function a little better every day. Wishing you nothing but the best in your retirement.

Congratulations on your long-awaited retirement - we're so happy for you. Enjoy spending more time with your beautiful grandkids!

Retirement Quotes for Teachers

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
~ Maya Angelou

Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.
~ Andy Rooney

You can retire, but you can't retire from being great!
~ Anon

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
~ Henry Brooks Adams

Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.
~ Colleen Wilcox

Someone once said, There are two good reasons to be a teacher: July and August. In fact, there are three good reasons to be a teacher. The third reason is retirement.
~ Unknown

The influence of a good teacher can never be erased
~ Unknown

Any of us who have benefited from learning have benefited from teachers.
~ Noah Benshea

It's time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad, and I'd much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.
~ Ernie Harwell

If you're brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.
~ Paulo Coelho

Retirement Quotes for Friend

Stay young at heart, kind in spirit, and enjoy retirement living.
~ Danielle Duckery

Retirement: a time to enjoy all the things you never had time to do when you worked.
~ Catherine Pulisfer

Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life.
~ Kitty O'Neill Collins

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

If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough.
~ Oprah Winfrey

Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you're supposed to.
~ Susan Cain

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?
~ Satchel Paige

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
~ J. Lubbock

Something pretty... that's just the surface. People worry so much about aging, but you look younger if you don't worry about it.
~ Jeanne Moreau

Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Retirement Quotes for a Family Member

Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

Retirement is not in my vocabulary. They aren't going to get rid of me that way.
~ Betty White

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
~ Will Rogers

You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.
~ George Burns

Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.
~ Jim Rohn

Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To be idle is sometimes an excellent way of being busy.
~ Thomas Carlyle

Retirement: That's when you return from work one day and say, "Hi, Honey, I'm home - forever"
~ Gene Perret

Retirement is when having a good time is your only job.
~ Anon

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
~ Irish Blessing

Frequently Asked Questions: Retirement Quotes

What is a good quote for retirement?

What is a good quote for retirement? If you're looking for retirement quotes / funny one-liners, use something short and sweet like:

Count your age by friends, not years. - John Lennon
Retire from work, but not from life. - M.K. Soni
You can never have the comeback if you don't have the retirement. - Unknown

What do you write in a retirement card?

Here are a few heartfelt retirement messages that are perfect for a card:

We don't grow older, we grow ripe. - Pablo Picasso
Retirement is not the end of the road. It is the beginning of the open highway. - Unknown.
Stay young at heart, kind in spirit, and enjoy retirement living. - Danielle Duckery.

What do you say to coworkers when you retire?

How to say thank you to a co-worker when you're retiring:

I really enjoyed working with you. Thanks for everything.
Thank you for being such a great colleague. I'll miss you.
Thank you for making work an enjoyable place to be.

For more retirement quotes for cards, check out our complete collection of retirement greeting card messages on our Retirement Wishes page.

Last-minute retirement gifts

Here are a couple of last minute retirement gift ideas to help you send off the retiree with your thanks and gratitude, and perhaps a few laughs too!

Printable Retirement Poster

Make the retiree a personalized poster that looks back over their career and celebrates all they have achieved. Personal and heartfelt, this gift is a way to acknowledge their contribution and commitment over the years and send them on their way with gratitude.

Click here to personalize and print your poster

Printable Retirement Certificate

Have a play on our free Retirement certificate maker and present your coworker or family member with a funny certificate celebrating this milestone achievement.