Top 25 Ageism Quotes

Now that I’ve experienced ageism, I don’t regard it as a bad thing. It’s been a transition to something more exciting and maybe edgier.

Ageism is a variation of racism or sexism, all the other isms.

It is important for the film industry to rise above ageism.

There is no ageism or ‘youthism’ when it comes to freedom of speech. We are all citizens.

I am concerned about ageism and the loss of beauty – the perception that as you grow older, you ‘lose your looks,’ which I think is diabolical.

For artists of my caliber, we’re not played on the radio, so we don’t really get a chance to get involved in that debate at all. We don’t get a chance, because this weird kind of ageism exists in pop music. If you’re past a certain age, you’re not relevant. That’s the kind of cliched term.

It’s getting better but men still earn more and there are more jobs for them. Ageism is a big thing. Parts for women disappear as you get older.

In the music world, ageism is a big issue. It’s about youth and youth culture. There’s no other art form that I know that requires you to be a certain age.

I do feel that the trend is away from ageism and toward a recognition that older people have a unique voice.

This phenomenon with Betty White is so wonderfully amazing. In a world where ageism runs rampant, out of left field, all of a sudden, the country decides to celebrate Betty White, and she becomes cool at 90. That’s remarkable.

Brexit and Trump are a generational revenge. This may partly be against millennial certainty and superiority, and, indeed, ageism; and it may be a natural part of population dynamics – not only are more people getting far older than ever before, but they are older for longer than they are young.

I have experienced ageism and sexism. In my 20s, I was told by a camera lighting man I needed plastic surgery. In my 30s I was constantly told I needed to lose weight.

Ageism works in both directions. As a teenager in the public eye, people would talk condescendingly to me. When you get older there’s this feeling that you have to start carving up your face and body. Right now I’m in the middle ground – I think women in their thirties are taken seriously.

As I plotted ‘Blueprints,’ I realized that ageism against women is most obvious in the field of entertainment – and that I needed a TV show in my book.

I think the BBC likes to have Mary Berry and me around to rebut the charge of ageism.

Ageism is as odious as racism and sexism.

Didn’t Lionel Richie just make a country album? No one is giving him a hard time… and God bless him – I love Lionel and should be able to do what he wants to do, like Madonna should, too. Both are having success and I applaud them. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. The ageism criticism is getting old.

French culture takes ageing very seriously. There’s much less ageism than in Anglo-Saxon countries.

There’s ageism in everything. I don’t give a hoot. It isn’t what other people think; it’s what you think. But it’s hard to come to terms with getting older. I admire people like Vivienne Westwood.

I think that ageism is a cultural illness; it’s not a personal illness.

All my life, I faced sexism and racism and then, when I hit 40, ageism.

‘Ageism,’ or whatever you want to call it, is a very English phenomenon. You don’t get it too much in many other cultures. And no one says it about authors or poets or filmmakers. ‘Oh, they’re too old to make films or write books.’

Too old at 72? Careful. Ageism is out. We’ll have the law on you!

I think as more women see that there are women out there building vibrant and creative and powerful lives and careers in their 40s, 50s, etc., then these older views of ageism will fall away.

Madeleine L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ has been targeted by censors for promoting New Ageism, and Mark Twain’s ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ for promoting racism. Gee, where does that leave the kids?