106 Happy Birthday Quotes That Don't Suck

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Do you see birthdays as something special to be marked, or would you rather bury your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening? Whether it’s cause for celebration or commiseration, these wise words will help you to see what a blessing each passing year is.

The weight of another 12 months might weigh heavily on your shoulders, but changing your mindset – even just a little – can mean the difference between a big day and a bad day. Take your pick from these fab happy birthday quotes, and use them to turn each milestone to your advantage.

From Mark Twain’s succinct message about wrinkles and smiles, to Mahatma Gandhi’s musings about what we think, say, and do, these happy birthday quotes can give you the reminder you need to enjoy life, however many candles are on your cake. Use them as a birthday gift to yourself, or to write in a card for a loved one who needs reminding of the fact that age is an honor that many people never get the chance to experience.

For a more personalized approach, also take a look at these mother daughter quotes, these family quotes and these soulmate quotes (for friends, pets and lovers).

Happy Birthday Quotes

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal,” – Henry Ford

“Don’t just count your years, make your years count.” – George Meredith

“Age is opportunity no less than youth itself.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

You may also like: These cute mother daughter quotes for any occasion: https://brightdrops.com/mother-daughter-quotes

“Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.” – Edward Morykwas

“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” – John Mason

“Your age isn’t you. Use today to feel your best, celebrate and be your very happiest.” – M. Rivers

Related: Happy Anniversary Quotes

“Don’t celebrate how old you are. Celebrate the years you survived.” – Touaxia Vang

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the one most responsive to change.” – Darwin

“The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.” – Brian Tracy

“A birthday is a time to count our blessings.” – Leroy Brownlow

“A birthday is just another day where you go to work and people give you love. Age is just a state of mind, and you are as old as you think you are. You have to count your blessings and be happy.” – Abhishek Bachchan

“Today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. Make the most of it!” – Nicky Gumbel

“None are as old as those who have outlived enthusiasm,” – Henry David Thoreau

“Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.” – Booth Tarkington

“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” – Mark Twain

“Birthday should be considered as a unit of measurement to measure our present status toward success!” – Mohith Agadi

“Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is,” – E. Fromm

“A birthday is not a day to fear. It is a day to celebrate and look forward to the coming year.” – Byron Pulsifer

“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wings of time.” – Jean Paul Richter

“The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything.” – Oscar Wilde

“We are always the same age inside” – Gertrude Stein

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony,” – Mahatma Gandhi

“The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune,” – English Proverb

“Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.” – Larry Lorenzoni

“The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious,” – Martin Luther

“Today you are another year older, and we know how fast time flys as we get older, therefore, live each day and be happy!” – Kate Summers

“Your birthday is my pleasure. You are my sweetest treasure.” – Danny Demeersseman

“I enjoy celebrating birthdays. Everyone should have their birthday celebrated.” – Loraine D. Nunley

“With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” – William Shakespeare

“Rather than see aging as a reason to contract, we should view it as an opportunity to expand. We should make each year of our lives are more interesting than the one before.” – Srinivas Rao

“It is lovely, when I forgot all birthdays, including my own, to find that somebody remembers me.” – Ellen Glasgow

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Each year as our birthday comes, our thoughts and beliefs may change a bit from year to year. But believe our wish for you is always the same, may you find happiness and blessings all of your days!” – Catherine Pulsifer

“Birthdays are happy as a child, defeatist with age and joyful again at surviving another year.” – Stewart Stafford

“An angel you have been to me. Today, on this special day I want you to know how much you are loved and appreciated every day of the year. Happy Birthday.” – Catherine Pulsifer

“We have to be able to grow up. Our wrinkles are our medals of the passage of life. They are what we have been through and who we want to be.” – Lauren Hutton

“You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.” – Bob Hope

“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.” – Jean Paul Richter

“It’s sad to grow old, but nice to ripen.” – Brigitte Bardot

“Love the giver more than the gift.” – Brigham Young

“The way I see it, you should live everyday like its your birthday.” – Paris Hilton

“Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Jack Benny

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” – Satchel Paige

“You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – Les Brown

“A birthday is like a new year and my wish for you is a great year full of happiness and sunshine!” – Catherine Pulsifer

“Count your age by friends, not years, your life by smiles, not tears.” – John Lennon

“Don’t anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen.” – Ben Franklin

“You don’t get older, you get better.” – Shirley Bassey

“I don’t mind getting older; it’s a privilege denied to so many!” – Chris Geiger, ‘The Cancer Survivors Club’

“The way I see it, you should live everyday like it’s your birthday.” – Paris Hilton

“Every birthday celebrates a life because every life is important.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

“Our life is a gift from the Creator. Your gift back to the Creator is what you do with your life,” – Billy Mills

“I’m like a fine wine. They don’t bring me out very much, but I am well preserved.” – Rose Kennedy

“Birthdays are inevitable, beautiful and very particular moments in our lives! Moments that bring precious memories back, celebrate the present times and give hope for the future.” – Bsbr Arish

“The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” – Lucille Ball

“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” – Voltaire

“It’s not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, They grow old because they stop pursuing dreams,” – Gabriel G. Marquez

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

“Your birthday is the beginning of your own personal new year. Your first birthday was a beginning, and each new birthday is a chance to begin again, to start over, to take a new grip on life.” – Wilfred Peterson

“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.” – Lewis Carroll

“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.” – Samuel Ullman

“At my age flowers scare me.” – George Burns

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Einstein

“If we could be twice young and twice old, we could correct all our mistakes,” – Euripides

“Birthdays come but once a year, celebrate and be of good cheer.” – Robert Rivers

“Our hope this year, for you my dear, is a year of happiness and joy. May the coming year bring all you dream of and more!” – Catherine Pulsifer

“The only way that getting older can be a bad thing is if you are not fully living in the moment now.” – Andrena Sawyer

“Every day is a gift. But some days are packaged better.” – Sanhita Baruah

“When you wake up every day, it’s like a new birthday: it’s a new chance to be great again and make great decisions.” – Poo Bear

“Birthdays are special days. It reminds us of that day when the heavens gave miracles our way. You are a MIRACLE. Bless yourself. Bless others. Be a blessing.” – Mystqx Skye

“A birthday is a time to reflect, to take stock and to look ahead. It is the day you entered the world. No great shakes to anyone else, but to you – everything.” – Kevan Manwaring

“Birthdays were made for going wild over the people we think are amazing.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

“You are amazing and wonderful and that is what I hope your birthday will be like – amazing and wonderful.” – Theodore W. Higginsworth

“I decided if you’re lucky enough to be alive, you should use each birthday to celebrate what your life is about.” – Mary Steenburgen

“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art,” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” – William Barclay

“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.” – Madeleine L’Engle

“It’s the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle

“Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.” – Fred Astaire

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey

“Cakes are special. Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. It’s all about the memories.” – Buddy Valastro

“Birthdays could be such a bummer when you were older than the country you lived in.” – Lynsay Sands

“Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.” – Tom Wilson

“Don’t regret another birthday, the good news is that you are alive and can celebrate it.” – Catherine Pulsifer

“Birthdays are a great time to stop and appreciate gravity. Sure, it makes things sag as you get older, but it also keeps your cake from flying all over the room, so you don’t have to chase it.” – Greg Tamblyn

“As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.” – Norman Wisdom

“Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.” – Chili Davis

“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” – George Burns

“We turn not older with years, but newer every day” – Emily Dickinson

“Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.” – Plautus

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.” – Sam Hagar

“All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.” – George Harrison

“May your years be counted not by your age but by how you spend your days.” – Catherine Pulsifer

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm,” – Lincoln

“May the moments of today become fond memories for tomorrow. Happy Birthday.” – Rob Jackson

“My policy on cake is pro having it and pro eating it.” – Boris Johnson

“Live long and prosper.” – Mr. Spock

“Birthdays; They never cease to exist, and like birthdays you will never cease to exist in my heart.” – Xela Ffronrims

“A birth-date is a reminder to celebrate the life as well as to update the life.” – Amit Kalantri

“Birthdays don’t come easy. They just come every year.” – Danielle Duckery

“To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.” – Bernard Baruch

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” – Cherokee Expression

“Put candles in a cake, it’s a birthday cake. Put candles in a pie, and somebody’s drunk in the kitchen.” – Jim Gaffigan

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Lincoln

“Please don’t retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them.” – Anna Magnani

“A birthday is the anniversary of your birth. It’s the time most of us reflect over the past year and what we hope for in the coming year.” – Claudia T Hudson