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"Never think oldish thoughts," stated James A. Farley. "It's oldish thoughts that make a person old." Indeed, thinking young can help you to stay busily and happily involved in your so-called retirement years. Being productive well into your later years will enhance your self-esteem plus give you intellectual stimulation and social interaction. It is also a way to enrich the lives of others while enriching your own life at the same time.

Here are examples of several elderly people who kept active in their "retirement" years.

• Albert Ellis developed what is now called rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) in the mid-1950s. In 2001, at the age of 87, Ellis was still lecturing, writing, and seeing 70 or more clients per week, applying REBT to help them get over behavioral and emotional problems by replacing irrational thoughts with rational ones.
• At 94 Bertrand Russell was actively promoting international world peace.
• At 90 Picasso was known for his artistic production, still creating stunning drawings and engravings.
• Luella Tyra was 92 in 1984, when she competed in five categories at the United States Swimming Nationals in Mission Viejo, California.
• Lloyd Lambert, at 87, was an active skier and operating a seventy-plus Ski Club which had 3,286 members including a ninety-seven-year-old.
• Maggie Kuhn in her 80s was still active in promoting the goals of the Grey Panthers, a seniors group which she helped found when she was 65.
• At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote Farfetched Fables.
• Ben Franklin was over 80 when he assisted in drafting the U.S. Constitution.
• Mildred Wirt Benson, (the author of Nancy Drew) wrote a column for the Toledo Blade until her death at 97.
• From the time he turned 75 until he was 80, Henri Matisse created six major illustrated books that contained hundreds of paintings. He also designed the Chapelle du Rosaire, including the stained-glass windows and murals.
• Buckminster Fuller in his 80s was actively promoting his vision for a new world.
• When he was 90, Arthur Rubenstein, the Polish-born American pianist particularly known for his interpretations of the works of Chopin, gave a sensational performance at Carnegie Hall.
• The Christian Science Church was headed by Mary Baker Eddy when she was 89.
• Not only did he write great poetry from the time he was 71 until his death at 89, Michelangelo was also chief Architect of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, supervising the construction of the body of the church.
• The Kosmos was written by Alexander von Humboldt from the time he was 76 until he turned 90.
• Writer, actor, director, and producer, George Abbott had his first hit (simply called Broadway) on Broadway when he was 39. At 75, he produced A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. When he turned 100, Abbott brought Broadway back to Broadway.

These people appear to be somewhat remarkable, and in a way they are. Nevertheless, they are not unusual. Hundreds of thousands of people in their seventies, eighties, and nineties have an incredible zest for life and show great vigor, enthusiasm, and physical ability in living in their retirement years. To these individuals, being over the hill in their retirement years means picking up speed.

Following are retirement quotes and retirement sayings to help you keep active in retirement:

#1 of Five Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings

Up, sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough.

— Ben Franklin

# 2 of Five Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.

— John Burrough

#3 of Six Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings

Life is a game.

Happy people are the players.

Unhappy people are the spectators.

Which would you like to be?

— From The Lazy Person's Guide To Happiness by Ernie J. Zelinski

#4 of Five Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings

If you don't keep busy, it's all over. I found out that from people much older than me. "Keep moving," they say, and that's what I'm doing. When I get up in the morning with aches and pains, I don't let it control me. When you sit down and don't do anything, you are going to disintegrate. Well, you're going to disintegrate anyway, but you'll do it quicker.

— Adelaide Bentley (a resident of a Hometown Retired neighborhood in West Towson, Maryland)

#5 of Five Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time of life. "Why," I answered without a thought, "now."

— David Grayson

Note: This article is adapted from the two retirement books How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement

The retirement quotes and retirement sayings are adapted from The Retirement Quotes Café .

About the Author:
 

Ernie Zelinski is a leading authority on early retirement, solo-entrepreneurship, and attaining real success without a real job.

Ernie is the author of the recently released Real Success Without a Real Job, the bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (over 85,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages), and the international bestseller The Joy of Not Working (over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages).

Download the Free E-book versions of Ernie's Real Success Without a Real Job and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free at:

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