"There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning."

"To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent—that is to triumph over old age."

"I do not wish to grow old, to outlive my illusions. Only a short respite from cares and sorrow, a brief time of flowers, and music, and love, and laughter, and ecstatic tears."

"The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors. There was coming and going between them, especially at festivals and also when an old man died, because an old man was very close to the ancestors. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors."

"The great renunciation of old age as it prepared for death, wraps itself up in its chrysalis, which may be observed at the end of lives that are at all prolonged, even in old lovers who have lived for one another, in old friends bound by the closest ties of mutual sympathy, who, after a certain year, cease to make the necessary journey or even to cross the street to see one another, cease to correspond, and know that they will communicate no more in this world."

"The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom."

"Happy and blessed birthday to every lover, and may love bring us together, and may the world hear us."

"Every year you are the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me,” and “May you always be my support in this world, my darling.”"

"Today is a special day, it’s my birthday with my life partner"

"Today we celebrate and light candles, renewing the days of happiness and love within us, and we converse in sweet, pure, and delightful affection, drawing the present to the days of our past. Joy on your birthday, my dear, may you always be in my heart."

"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come."

"Is that a birthday? 'tis, alas! too clear; 'Tis but the funeral of the former year."

"Whatever with the past has gone the best is always yet to come."

"My birthday!—what a different sound That word had in my youthful ears; And how each time the day comes round, Less and less white its mark appears."

"Believing hear, what you deserve to hear: Your birthday as my own to me is dear. Blest and distinguished days! which we should prize The first, the kindest bounty of the skies. But yours gives most; for mine did only lend Me to the world; yours gave to me a friend."

"As this auspicious day began the race Of ev'ry virtue join'd with ev'ry grace; May you, who own them, welcome its return, Till excellence, like yours, again is born. The years we wish, will half your charms impair; The years we wish, the better half will spare; The victims of your eyes will bleed no more, But all the beauties of your mind adore."

"A birthday:—and now a day that rose With much of hope, with meaning rife— A thoughtful day from dawn to close: The middle day of human life."

"Birthdays weigh heavily on one's self-esteem. Early in the morning especially."

"Of all days, on one’s birthday one should mourn one’s fall (into samsara). To celebrate it as a festival is like adorning and glorifying a corpse. To seek one’s Self and merge in it is wisdom."

"You who wish to celebrate a birthday, inquire first who was born. One’s true birthday is when one enters into the Eternal Being which shines forever without birth or death."

"All the world's a birthday cake, / So take a piece but not too much."

"Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good."

"Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth."

"these nights we hear the horses running in the rain"

"Dylan Thomas"

"I grabbed a pile of dust, and holding it up, foolishly asked for as many birthdays as the grains of dust, I forgot to ask that they be years of youth."

"There is still no cure for the common birthday."

"If I could go back in time a thousand times, I would choose you every time, because every beat of my heart cries out your name."

"On this day, you became my life, my hope, my destiny in this world, my refuge, and the love of my life. Every year, you are the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me."