Iris Apfel Quotes

The thing we don't want to do is overstate the benefits, but there is all kinds of proof that exercise, both physical and mental, increases brain activity.

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

People in their 70s can still have incredible lives. Health is the most important thing.

If a brain is exercised properly, anyone can grow intelligence, at any age, and potentially by a lot. Or you can just let your brain idle - and watch it slowly, inexorably, go to seed like a sedentary body.

The hell with the aging process. It happens to everyone - you just keep your mind active, you keep physically active.

If my mind and body are still active, why should I retire?

Tell your readers to use it or lose it. If you don't use your muscles, they get weak. If you don't use your mind it begins to fail.

Walking is the only way proven to stave off cognitive decline - it works.

Where nothing in a person's earlier years lends itself to an old age devoted to continuing intellectual and physical pursuits, a late-life interest in Tolstoy or even crossword puzzles is unlikely to appear, no matter the urging by well-intentioned social workers or people like me who write books about it.

Why would I retire? Sit at home and watch TV? No thanks. I'd rather be out playing.

At 60, I could do the same things I could do at 30, if I could only remember what those things are.

Being on a sitcom stops me from getting Alzheimer's.

If I've got food and water, as long as I can exercise my mind and keep it nimble, then I'll be okay.

Particularly at around the age of 70 you reach a stage where you have to be very careful. If, at that point, you abandon the work you have been doing, there is a good chance that you will just collapse and drift.

We'll probably live 20 more years than our grandparents did. The question is, what are you going to do with those extra 20 years?

I hope to have one more boxing match at the age of 55. Given that demographic at the age of 55 to 65, you've got to make a statement with your life. Otherwise, you are just existing.

I think the most important thing is to keep active and to hope that your mind stays active.

What makes me happy is just keeping my brain challenged and stimulated and on its toes.

I like to keep mobile. It keeps my mind awake.

Learning ballroom dancing is great for your brain. But it only works for three to six months. After that, you've got all the benefit you can get, and so you have to move on to yoga, and then Tai Chi, and then bridge, always keeping on the steep part of the learning curve.

What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call 'thought'.

I think it's good to stimulate your mind.

If you do not use a muscle or any part of the body, it tends to become atrophic. So is the case with the brain. The more you use it, the better it becomes.

I think it's so important to keep learning and keep your brain active.

We can't avoid age. However, we can avoid some aging. Continue to do things. Be active. Life is fantastic in the way it adjusts to demands; if you use your muscles and mind, they stay there much longer.