Birthday quotes for cards and toasts
A good birthday quote does one of two things: it makes the person smile about getting older, or it reminds them that the years ahead are worth looking forward to. These are checked against their sources.
The melancholy Jaques compares life to a play in seven acts, from baby to old age. It is a witty, gloomy view of life that the play quietly answers.
Read the full explanation →Latin for “seize the day,” or more literally “pluck the day” like ripe fruit. Horace tells a friend to enjoy today instead of worrying about a future no one can know.
Read the full explanation →Old age is not a decline to dread but the goal that youth was preparing for. Browning's speaker invites a listener to grow old with him because the later years complete the life.
Read the full explanation →A prayer to understand how short life is, so that we spend our days wisely.
Read the full explanation →The person we are as children shapes the adult we become. Wordsworth hopes his grown-up self will keep the wonder he felt as a child seeing a rainbow.
Read the full explanation →The present day is never ordinary. Emerson warns against the illusion that the important moment is always somewhere else, and says today is the critical, decisive day.
Read the full explanation →No quotes match these filters yet. New quotes are added every week.
How to use a quote on a birthday
In a card, a quote works best as the opening line, followed by something personal. Keep the quote to one sentence; the card is about them, not the poet.
For a milestone birthday such as 40, 50 or 80, a line about time works well in a toast, especially one with a hopeful turn like Browning's "the best is yet to be". Say it, add a short story about the person, and raise a glass.
Be careful with jokes about age. What is funny between old friends can sting in a mixed room, so save the teasing lines for the people who will laugh hardest.