Birthdays

Funny birthday quotes from classic writers

Witty lines for a birthday card, from writers who were funny about getting older long before greeting cards were. Oscar Wilde on youth and temptation, Lewis Carroll on believing impossible things, and Ambrose Bierce, whose Devil's Dictionary is rude enough that you should know the recipient. Each line is copied word for word from the original book and is in the public domain, so it can go in a card, a caption or a cake topper.

11 passages

Wit & one-liners
AGE, n. That period of life in which we compound for the vices that we still cherish by reviling those that we have no longer the enterprise to commit.
Ambrose BierceThe Devil's Dictionary, 1911 · Entry: Age
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Wit & one-liners
I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.
Jane AustenPride and Prejudice, 1813 · Chapter XI
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Joy & wonder
Jenny kiss’d me when we met,Jumping from the chair she sat in;Time, you thief, who love to getSweets into your list, put that in!Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,Say that health and wealth have miss’d me,Say I’m growing old, but add,Jenny kiss’d me.
Leigh HuntJenny Kiss'd Me, 1838
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Joy & wonder
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Walt WhitmanLeaves of Grass, 1892 · Song of Myself, 1
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