Famous Quotes for Turning 40

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Updated September 1, 2022
Carl Jung quote from the article
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    happy couple in their 40s hugging outdoors with quote by Carl G. Jung
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Are you writing a speech or a toast and need a few famous quotes to mark the event of turning 40? Turning 40 is a milestone that many consider middle age or over the hill. On the other hand, at 40 you are much wiser and than you were at 21 and many consider it the start of the best part of life! Whatever your perspective, these quotes on turning 40 are sure to help you set just the right tone.

Turning 40: Philosophical and Funny Quotes

Many famous quotes express the various sentiments about turning 40 - both the philosophical and the funny aspects of meeting this milestone.

Philosophical Quotes

  • Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research. - Carl G. Jung
  • At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don't care what they think of us. At 60, we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all. - Ann Landers
  • At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty the wit; at forty the judgment. - Benjamin Franklin
  • Every man over forty is a scoundrel. - George Bernard Shaw
  • Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is the youth of old age. - Victor Hugo
  • Life begins at forty. - W. B. Pitkin
  • The first forty years of life give us the text: the next thirty supply the commentary. - Arthur Schopenhauer
  • The lovely thing about being forty is that you can appreciate twenty-five-year-old men. - Colleen McCullough
  • We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it. - Jules Renard
  • When I passed forty I dropped pretense, 'cause men like women who got some sense.' - Maya Angelou
  • Women are most fascinating between the ages of 35 and 40 after they have won a few races and know how to pace themselves. Since few women ever pass 40, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely. - Christian Dior
  • Women deserve to have more than twelve years between the ages of twenty-eight and forty. - James Thurber

Funny Quotes

  • Forty isn't old, if you're a tree. - Unknown
  • I'm not 40, I'm 18 with 22 years of experience. - Unknown
  • Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed. - Charles M. Schultz
  • Life begins at 40 - but so do fallen arches, rheumatism, faulty eyesight, and the tendency to tell a story to the same person, three or four times. - Helen Rowland
  • I'd rather be 40 than pregnant. - Unknown
  • What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy. - Voltaire
  • Forty years old - the halfway point between diapers and Depends. - Unknown
  • The best part of being over forty is we did most of our stupid stuff before the internet. - Unknown
  • You're not forty. You're thirty-ten. - Unknown

Middle Age Quotes

Although not specifically directed at turning 40, these famous quotes focus on this mid-point in a life...middle age.

  • Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle. - Bob Hope
  • At middle age the soul should be opening up like a rose, not closing up like a cabbage. - John Andrew Holmes
  • Middle age is having a choice between two temptations and choosing the one that'll get you home earlier. - Dan Bennett
  • Middle age is when you still believe you'll feel better in the morning. - Bob Hope
  • Middle age is when a guy keeps turning off lights for economical rather than romantic reasons. - Eli Cass
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Quotes About Getting Older

We all get older whether we like it or not. Here are some funny quotes that will make you smile and maybe help you not care about getting older.

  • Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young. - Fred Astaire.
  • Age is a high price to pay for maturity. - Tom Stoppard
  • You've heard of the three ages of man - youth, age, and you are looking wonderful. - Francis Cardinal Spellman
  • The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm. - Aldous Huxley
  • Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. - Jack Benny
  • I'm at an age when my back goes out more than I do. - Phyllis Diller
  • The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. - Lucille Ball
  • Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. - Groucho Marx
  • Age is a matter of feeling, not of years. - George William Curtis

Getting older, specifically reaching the age of 40, has been memorialized in quotes by many famous people. Interestingly, these quotes all have something in common - they give special meaning to the often mundane act of growing older.

See more quotes about being 40 years old.