Early Retirement Quotes

[Winemaker]

"Life is like a $hit sandwich, the more bread you have, the $hit you have to eat." Skip Drake, my first boss

 

[Eagle43]

"Take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more."

 

[aja8888]

My favorite ER quote is in my signature.

 

[MRG]

A fellow who came into tinymill as part of a team to work. He'd been on a week long drunk and appeared to start coming out of it when he was dropped off.

"Where am I?"
"A sawmill, you're here to work"
" Work? Oh hell no".

He took off on foot.

 

[RobbieB]

Work is the curse of the drinking class

 

[sheldon cornped]

Don't sweat the small stuff.
It's all small stuff.

 

[38Chevy454]

I worked behind a security gate with a guard for good portion of my career. So I always said: "Quality of life is when I go out the gate, not when I come in the gate".

Could also be applied to out the office door, work parking lot, etc.

 

[truenorth418]

“Get busy living or get busy dying”. -the Shawshank Redemption

 

[gretah]

My friend originated my favourite one:

Your autobiography should be the fattest book on your shelf.

She worked as a travel guide to exotic countries. Now that she is retired, she likes to go to France.

 

[DrRoy]

May not fit the best, but I often thought was interesting -
"Plans are useless, but planning is invaluable". Winston Churchill

 

[Midpack]

I've always collected meaningful quotes, I have 15 pages of them. I'm not sure I could pick a few favorites, they all have their time and place.

Here's one I just heard yesterday that struck a chord, but it applies throughout life, not just pre-retirement. I still don't believe life is better before or after retirement, done right the career and retirement phases both have their pros and cons, as does childhood, etc.

“Happiness is pretty simple: someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to.” Rita Mae Brown, Hiss of Death

 

[Beldar]

Office Space:

Bob - Looks like you have been missing a lot of work lately.

Peter - I wouldn't say I have been missing it.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

_B

 

[skibum]

I can't find the original post from about a month ago here, but someone noted it should be a signature line.

$1MM would be fancy cars, vacations, and shopping sprees for most people, it's $35k - $40k per year for us ER folks.

 

[GrayHare]

As Yogi said about ER, "It ain't over till it's over."

 

[Zorba]

"[FONT=&quot]The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
[/FONT]

 

[Huston55]

"[FONT=&quot]The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
[/FONT]

Sounds like he’s channeling Joe Dominguez.

Oh wait, that’s backwards!

 

[TimeMeasure]

This isn't directly a motivational quote about retiring early... and it's not as lighthearted as some of the other quotes... but it's about living well, against the backdrop of limited time, and in one way or another, that topic is probably on the mind of anyone contemplating retirement.

Not posting this because of any religious affiliation, but because it's a poignant reminder about trying to spend one's time well.

"Go, eat your food with gladness.... Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life... under the sun—all your meaningless days.... Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them."

Maybe that is an indirect way of saying - Carpe Diem.

And this comment, by member JoeWras in this forum, I liked so much that I wrote it down:

"From birth, you are being taught to aspire to moving up. Many people don't see retirement as a move up. Hence, it is never on their radar until they die."

 

[LOL!]

When my still-working dad asked his future son-in-law what he did for a living:

"I'm retired. You'll enjoy it when you get here."

 

[Souschef]

The following quote has been attributed to Thoreau, but that is not totally correct. It saddens me to see so many people like this:
Most men live lives of quiet desperation and take their song to the grave.

 

[David1961]

I don't work for my
money. My money works for me

 

[David1961]

And when you leave, say "Adios My Friends

 

[Cessna152]

Do you have quotes that are meaningful to you?

I got nothing.

 

[scrabbler1]

I don't work for my
money. My money works for me

That's very nearly my signature line!

 

[Onward]

Onward, FIRE'd comrades!

[An employee] does not fulfill himself in his work but denies himself, has a feeling of misery rather than well-being, does not develop freely his mental and physical energies but is physically exhausted and mentally debased.

 

[chas57006]

Retire as early as possible, "You don't want to be the richest person in the cemetery."