Article image

Hilariously Relatable Quotes About Birthdays

For many of us, our birthday is one the most fulfilling and joyous days of the year. There are few things that warm the heart more than gathering with friends and family to celebrate, reminisce, and eat plenty of cake.

Of course, others of us would rather not acknowledge our birthdays, as the thought of getting older can be sobering. But it’s important to remember that aging is a gift, and we should try to approach each of our birthdays with an optimistic and humorous attitude.

Given the often lighthearted nature of birthdays, it should come as no surprise that many of the world’s funniest comedians and wittiest authors have chimed in with their own takes about this special occasion. So whether you’ll be celebrating a birthday soon or you’re the type of person who dreads the awkwardness of having “Happy Birthday” sung at you, here are 12 hilarious quotes about birthdays.

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

Share Quote

I  see birthdays as a reward for having shown up 365 days in a row. It’s like getting a badge for attendance.
Gina Barreca

Share Quote

When I turned 2 I was really anxious, because I’d doubled my age in a year. I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I’m 6 I’ll be 90.
Steven Wright

Share Quote

When a man has a birthday, he takes a day off. When a woman has a birthday, she takes at least three years off.
Joan Rivers

Share Quote

Pie can’t compete with cake. Put candles in a cake, it’s a birthday cake. Put candles in a pie, and somebody’s drunk in the kitchen.
Jim Gaffigan

Share Quote

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

Share Quote

Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other never forgets [them].
Ogden Nash

Share Quote

I know I’m getting old. My last birthday cake looked like a prairie fire.
Rodney Dangerfield

Share Quote

For all the advances in medicine, there is still no cure for the common birthday.
John Glenn

Share Quote

The first birthday party you have and the last birthday you have are actually quite similar. You know, you just kinda sit there. You’re the least excited person at the party. You don’t even really realize that there is a party.
Jerry Seinfeld

Share Quote

Why is a birthday cake the only food you can blow on and spit on and everybody rushes to get a piece?
Bobby Kelton

Share Quote

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.
Robert Frost

Share Quote

Featured image credit: JFunk/ Shutterstock

Author image
About the Author
Bennett Kleinman
Bennett is a staff writer at Optimism as well as a freelance comedy writer. He's based in New York City.
Play more header background
Play more icon
Daily Question
Fill in the blank: "___ is about finding creativity in the gutter next to you." - Olafur Eliasson

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished.

separator icon
Kevin Kelly
motivation theme icon

Trust your gut. Forgive yourself. Be grateful.

separator icon
Cheryl Strayed
hope theme icon

Open to whatever you experience without fighting. Let it be present just as it is. Let go of the battle.

separator icon
Jack Kornfield
love theme icon

It is love alone that gives worth to all things.

separator icon
Teresa of Ávila
wisdom theme icon

Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.

separator icon
Henry Miller
happiness theme icon

I change myself, I change the world.

separator icon
Gloria Anzaldúa
motivation theme icon

My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

separator icon
Desmond Tutu
hope theme icon

Whatever you are, try to be a good one.

separator icon
William Makepeace Thackeray
love theme icon

Love is free; it is not practiced as a way of achieving other ends.

separator icon
Pope Benedict XVI
wisdom theme icon

The beginning of wisdom is to do away with fear.

separator icon
Yohannes Gebregeorgis
happiness theme icon

Chance favors only the prepared mind.

separator icon
Louis Pasteur