Special Occasions & Events: Retirement Quotes

"I'm leaving the game of hockey with nothing but great memories"

Joe Sakic, Athlete

"I always said to myself that the minute I thought I'd slipped, and not be the player I wanted to be, it was time for me to go"

Joe Sakic, Athlete

"After 20 years in the game, I was fortunate to get away from the game and enjoy my family, which was great for me"

Joe Sakic, Athlete

"I do not believe that the Social Security system is in crisis. The Social Security Administration itself recently reported that the system is able to pay full benefits as they are defined today until at least 2042"

James T. Walsh, Politician

"I know of no serious proposals that would change the way Social Security operates for today's seniors"

Mac Thornberry, Politician

"I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it"

Mos Def, Musician

"Social Security is an extremely complicated program"

John Thune, Politician

"I don't need much more money, and I thought that when I retired that nobody would want to talk to me anymore. Then I did, and people still want to talk to me"

Johnny Ramone, Musician

"Today there are about 40 million retirees receiving benefits; by the time all the baby boomers have retired, there will be more than 72 million retirees drawing Social Security benefits"

Tony Snow, Journalist

"I don't have to teach anymore, I don't have to work anymore, God has been really good to me"

Richard Simmons, Celebrity

"And when I retired, trust me, not only did Nolan Ryan, but the entire Ryan family had withdrawals from baseball. And it was tough"

Nolan Ryan, Athlete

"I am staunchly committed to ensuring the long-term solvency of Social Security and preserving full benefits for Americans who have spent their entire working lives contributing to this program"

Sue Kelly, Politician

"God knows when I'm going to retire. I think I'm going to be bored"

Mark Roberts, Actor

"Our government makes the simple promise of a secure retirement to every American who works for many years and contributes to our retirement benefit system"

Sue Kelly, Politician

"I can honestly say it took two full years for me to get over the fact that I was no longer a baseball player"

Nolan Ryan, Athlete

"Under the current pay-as-you-go Social Security system, not one person is actually guaranteed benefits"

Ginny B. Waite

"On the other end of the spectrum, these women who do live long enough to collect Social Security face the challenge of being disproportionately dependent on the Social Security system for retirement income"

Ginny B. Waite

"It's too hard a life for me. I could only do it - check out in that sense - if I checked out somewhere that was luxurious and within hailing distance of civilization"

Derek Jacobi, Actor

"While it is clear that we need to make some adjustments to protect Social Security for the long term, it is disingenuous to say that the trust fund is facing a crisis"

Carl Levin, Politician

"I don't want ever to be champion again"

Boris Spassky, Celebrity

"Personal savings accounts to me are one of the most powerful things, not necessarily in saving, solvency, or bankruptcy of the program, but in guaranteeing, the words I used a few minutes ago, a safe and secure retirement for our seniors"

Bill Frist, Politician

"Planning to play: that's what saving for retirement is today - and it is antithetical to the nature of play, fully within the definition of work, and blissfully ignorant of the reality of death"

John Thorn, Historian

"It can't be any simpler: the farewell is going to be on the Champs-Elysees"

Lance Armstrong, Athlete

"The do-it-yourself version of pensions is a flop, as many Americans have painfully learned"

William Greider, Author

"After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect"

Tom T. Hall, Musician

"It is estimated that raising the retirement age to 70 would cut the shortfall by about 36%. But this proposal has some drawbacks. Women and men who have worked jobs that require manual labor all of their lives may not physically be able to do work until they are 70 years old"

Steve Israel, Politician

"In the spring of 1994 I decided not to seek reelection to the Senate. I had made the decision 12 years earlier, Christmas Day of 1982, just after I had been first elected to a full term, that I would do the best I could for a limited time"

George J. Mitchell, Politician

"I look back on it, yeah, I'm in a much worse financial position than I was eight years ago. I'm going to have to go out at age 62 and kind of readdress some of that"

Bruce Babbitt, Politician

"We have so many people retiring that we do not have enough people paying into the system to be able to provide the benefits for those collecting those benefits"

Chris Chocola, Politician

"I quit driving, I'm not retired"

Richard Petty, Athlete

"Privatizing Social Security doesn't make sense, and it's out of step with the fundamental value of ensuring that after a life spent working hard and contributing to the greatness of our nation, every American should have a secure retirement"

Debbie Stabenow, Politician

"I don't think about going back to the theater"

Angela Lansbury, Actress

"It's been a tremendous ride. My 15 years, my 15 minutes of fame, is up"

Emmitt Smith, Athlete

"I'm a performer. We don't retire"

Robert Goulet, Musician

"When you retire, you want to get as far away as possible from the game for a couple of years"

Pete Sampras, Athlete

"I had a very bad torn groin, my abdomen right through my legs. I was finding it really hard to get in the ring and run around and function at a decent rate. Then they had the idea that it might be better to do a retirement thing"

Owen Hart, Entertainer

"However, the Administration's plan to privatize Social Security will undermine retirement security for all Americans by cutting guaranteed benefits by more than 40 percent, and risky private accounts won't make up for the loss of benefits for millions of Americans"

Ruben Hinojosa, Politician

"Since 1935, this has been a pay-as-you-go system, and I always believed when I first started talking about Social Security that there was a little box that had my name on it and it had my benefits for when I retired. That is not true"

Judy Biggert, Politician

"I've given it my all. I've done my best. Now, I'm ready with my family to begin the next phase of our lives"

Richard M. Daley, Politician

"I am not really retired, and may never be completely, but I can't think of a better place to contemplate retirement than New York City"

Robert MacNeil, Journalist

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