“Anybody can have a birthday. It requires nothing. Murderers have birthdays. It's the opposite of anything that I believe in. And I don't like at work where you stop everything to sing 'Happy Birthday' to someone. I feel like that's for children.”
Birthdays are milestones disguised as parties. These quotes capture the joy, nostalgia, and mild existential crisis that can all show up when you add another number. Good for cards, toasts, or just sitting with the strangeness of getting older.
“My happiest memory of childhood was my first birthday in reform school. This teacher took an interest in me. In fact, he gave me the first birthday presents I ever got: a box of Cracker Jacks and a can of ABC shoe polish.”
“Anybody can have a birthday. It requires nothing. Murderers have birthdays. It's the opposite of anything that I believe in. And I don't like at work where you stop everything to sing 'Happy Birthday' to someone. I feel like that's for children.”
“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”
“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.”
“I like to go to anybody else's birthday, and if I'm invited I'm a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don't care.”
“I wanted to buy a candle holder, but the store didn't have one. So I got a cake.”
“I tried to bake a cake for my mother's birthday - it took me four hours. It was terrible, and I cried for three days.”
“A gift, with a kind countenance, is a double present.”
“When someone asks if you'd like cake or pie, why not say you want cake and pie?”
“My second play, The Birthday Party, I wrote in 1958 - or 1957. It was totally destroyed by the critics of the day, who called it an absolute load of rubbish.”
“I'm over the moon to be involved in the 'Doctor Who' Christmas special. I can't quite believe it as it's a part of the family tradition at the Jenkins household. I heard the news that I got the role on my 30th birthday and it was the best birthday present ever.”
“My ace in the hole as a human being used to be my capacity for remembering birthdays. I worked at it. Whenever I made a new friend, I made a point of finding out his or her birthday early on, and I would record it in my Filofax calendar.”
“When I turned 60, it didn't bother me at all.”
“All my favorite stars, my family and my friends are here. I'm having the happiest birthday that an 18-year-old girl could ever have.”
“The first guitar I ever got was for my 13th birthday.”
“I quit high school on my birthday. It was my senior year and I didn't see the point. This was 1962, and I was ready to make music.”