Article image

Hilariously Relatable Quotes About Birthdays

For many of us, our birthday is one of 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: "I would rather walk with a ___ in the dark than walk alone in the light.” - Helen Keller

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it.

separator icon
Marcus Aurelius
motivation theme icon

All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.

separator icon
Federico Fellini
hope theme icon

You know the greatest thing is passion, without it what have you got?

separator icon
Diana Vreeland
love theme icon

Happiness is not made by what we own. It is what we share.

separator icon
Jonathan Sacks
wisdom theme icon

Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.

separator icon
Gretel Ehrlich
happiness theme icon

All you have to do is take a close look at yourself and you will understand everyone else.

separator icon
Isaac Asimov
motivation theme icon

Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

separator icon
Bruce Lee
hope theme icon

Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.

separator icon
Sophocles
love theme icon

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it.

separator icon
Gilda Radner
wisdom theme icon

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

separator icon
Judy Garland
happiness theme icon

Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?

separator icon
Friedrich Nietzsche