Ageism Quotes

“It’s not loving a man that makes life harder for gay guys, it’s homophobia. It’s not the color of their skin that makes life harder for people of color; it’s racism. It’s not having vaginas that makes life harder for women, it’s sexism. And it’s ageism, far more than the passage of time, that makes growing older harder for all of us.”
― Ashton Applewhite, This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism

“When we age we shed many skins: ego, arrognace, dominance, self-opionated, unreliable, pessimism, rudeness, selfish, uncaring ... Wow, it's good to be old!”
― Stephen Richards

“The good thing about being old is not being young.”
― Stephen Richards

“Some people say they have 20 years experience, when in reality, they have 1 year's experience repeated 20 times. (Stephen M R Covey to Richie Norton when Norton asked if he was too young to train older executives for Covey.)”
― Richie Norton

“How is it that we have become so certain that the sight of years, the summation of decades, should inflict such violence on the viewer - including family - that we have built entire fortresses to keep such bodies out of sight?”
― Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness

“Being older deceives us into thinking that we are experts at being the ages we used to be.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, P for Pessimism: A Collection of Funny yet Profound Aphorisms

“Ambition doesn’t end on a particular birthday. Own it and live it.”
― Bonnie Marcus, Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power

“Don’t be stingy with your praise and support of other women. What goes around comes around. It’s great karma.”
― Bonnie Marcus, Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power

“How did I get to be this old and still have to put up with so much crap?”
― T.W. Lawless, Furey's War

“Only those who have been on the receiving end of poverty, unemployment, homelessess, mental illness, domestic violence, racism, sexism or ageism can fully identify with others' reactions to those distressing experiences. Only those who have been members of marginalised minority can fully appreciate how that feels. [p50]”
― Hugh Mackay, The Kindness Revolution: How we can restore hope, rebuild trust and inspire optimism

“The older person is necessarily more experienced at life, but is not necessarily more wise, or even just wise.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“it is for the elder man to rule and for the younger to submit”
― Plato

“It seems to me you’re turning into a regular old fussbudget,” said Miss Marple unkindly.
“And don’t call me names!” said Dr. Haydock. “You’re a very healthy woman for your age; you were pulled down a bit by bronchitis which isn’t good for the elderly. But to stay alone in a house at your age is a risk. Supposing you fall down the stairs one evening or fall out of bed or slip in the bath. There you’d lie and nobody’d know about it.”
“One can imagine anything,” said Miss Marple. “Miss Knight might fall down the stairs and i’d fall over her rushing out to see what had happened.”
― Agatha Christie, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

“It is extremely disturbing to live in a society that sees older people as a burden rather than rich experiences to benefit from and build upon. Older people can act as the memory that can help us make sense of what was, what is, and what could and should be. I see that in the U.S. older people are not only made invisible in a culture obsessed with youth and superficial physical appearances, but often their insights, experiences, and perspectives are dismissed as ‘nostalgic’ or as outright ‘ignorant’ using the ‘generational gap’ as a pretext.”
― Louis Yako

“You can’t sit on your ass and wait for things to miraculously happen for you.”
― Bonnie Marcus, Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power

“Our age works against us, as does our gender, and we can’t take this shit lying down.”
― Bonnie Marcus, Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power

“Loving yourself is badass, about as badass as you can get.”
― Bonnie Marcus, Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power

“It’s your time and you have to claim it.”
― Bonnie Marcus, Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power

“Next time you're feeling a certain way about your age, look at those who are older than you and excelling greatly for a self-esteem boost.”
― Torron-Lee Dewar

“My call to action goes well beyond asking you to pressure your recruiting team to hire a couple of token employees. That's easy and you've been doing that for years.

My call to action is that you dig deeper and place focus on making the work environment sustainable for the minorities you introduce to your team. I'm challenging you to refrain from the habitual practice of listening only to the jaded opinions of people that you are more familiar with.

Consider that, although you may be under the impression that your employees have strong ethics, morals and values, there is a possibility that they mat not be telling you the entire truth when speaking about the performance or demeanor of minorities.

Furthermore, I challenge you to accept that racism, ageism, ableism, classism, sizeism, homophobia, etc., are real and shaping the semblance of your organization.

Accepting that fact does not mean that people you work with and trust are bad people. It simply means that many of them are naïve, fearful, and more comfortable with pointing fingers at the innocent than they are with facing and addressing their own unconscious and damaging biases.”
― Talisa Lavarry, Confessions From Your Token Black Colleague: True Stories & Candid Conversations About Equity & Inclusion In The Workplace

“How old is too old when you've a right knack with the sick?”
― Anne McCaffrey, Nerilka's Story

“To fight against aging, we should first fight ageism. So many thousand more years and we still don't get along.. We just dam!
One day we will value the soul and its essence more than its appearance. Until that day arrives, we still suffer from so much violence.”
― Ana Claudia Antunes, Memoirs of An Amazon

“I played pinochle with my grandmothers. I thought I was the only person under the age of sixty who knew how to play. He also used the Oxford comma. That has to mean something, doesn't it?”
― Amy Bellows, A Handkerchief for Kade

“The Dark Cloud
Is the weaving of words that is ignored but leaves you stunned
Is the attitude of professors that don’t care unless you have a huge trust fund
Is the disgust you feel towards sexism, racism, and ageism
Is the hatred of a country that has fierce nationalism and chauvinism”
― Aida Mandic, The Dark Cloud

“The Dark Cloud
Is the dismissive manner of ageism and how it punishes wrinkles but wants you to be caring
Is the army of truth that always seeks those who are daring
Is the cynicism that ties you up to a chair and leaves you there
Is mourning people who were as good as gold, sweet like sugar, and who had deep emotions that were rare”
― Aida Mandic, The Dark Cloud

“An age is just an indication that there's more to be done.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“Are women complete
human beings, with our own socialised and embodied experiences, our stories forever changing as we move through time? Or are we a cobbled together, pick-and-mix range of woman-y offerings, most of which fall into decay as we age? Is a woman really a woman when there’s nothing more for men to take from or project onto her? When she might, in fact, seem to
be on the verge of living for herself?”
― Victoria Smith, Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women

“Even when I was beautiful, I’d gotten hurt. I think I just wanted to be miserable in a way that made me feel beautiful.”
― Megan Howell, Softie: Stories

“It's bitterly ironic that we place astronomical value on the increasing age of inanimate paintings, antiques, cars, wines and memorabilia while failing to appreciate and adequately compensate the priceless life experience and wisdom that comes with human maturity.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Another truth cannot be denied: it was one of those moments when the world reminded me that I, too, would become old. Not only was I shocked; my first reaction was one of distancing and denial.
Simone de Beauvoir captured this stance in The Coming of Age: "When we look at the image of our own future provided by the old we do not believe it: an absurd inner voice whispers that that will never happen to us - when that happens it will no longer be ourselves that it happens to." This divorce of the current self from the future self distances us from the biological and social diminishment of old age. Such actions are essentially human. Almost everyone can relate to them. We cleave toward those like us and toward those who make us feel like our best and most powerful selves.
The people who push back most ferociously against the label 'old' are people in their sixties, seventies, and eighties who don't (yet) conform to stereotyped associations with that word. They make comments along the lines of: "I am still active and looking forward to the future so find having the world old attached to me disconcerting." Their argument is that they are not ill or disabled, despondent or dependent, and therefore not 'old', their chronological age notwithstanding.
Since the definition of 'old' is having lived a certain number of years, usually sixty or seventy, it seems we have created a society in which carrying that label is so awful that octogenarians leaning on walkers adamantly assert they are not old. Clearly, the human life cycle isn't the problem. Societal prejudice is so strong, and the category old so stripped of respect and social worth, that old people feel compelled to argue against the obvious.”
― Louise Aronson, Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life