Andrew Tobias Quotes

I think one of the important things that's happened in the course of the century is that life expectancy has doubled.

The life expectancy is much longer today than it was when Social Security was created.

In one century, we've added 28 years to our average life span - a change so rapid that our brains couldn't possibly have evolved to accommodate it.

Dogs live longer than rappers.

Old age is a lease nature only signs as a particular favor, and it may be, to one, only in the space of two or three ages; and then with a pass to boot, to carry him through, all the traverses and difficulties she has strewed in the way of his long career.

One of the things that got me on this topic for this book was that when I was researching the column I wrote in 2009 saying that I was stepping down from my column at "Newsweek" because I wanted to make room for newer, fresh voices out there, I discovered that in the year I was born, 1952, the average life expectancy of an American was 68. I was shocked by that figure and every time I mention it I hear a gasp from somebody in the crowd. Now, of course, we're more or less at 80, so that means that we've gotten 12 additional years.

By the time a man gets well into his seventies his continued existence is a mere miracle.

Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?

Most people understand life expectancy has changed since Social Security started in 1937 when folks lived to be 59 years old. Today, they live to be 77 years old.

When I was a medical student in the 1950s, we practically never spoke about Alzheimer's disease. And why is that so? And that is because people didn't live long enough to have Alzheimer's disease.

My dad was an agent for Met Life. In the '50s, I remember the mortality rate was something like - you had - 58 was the average age. Then it was moved up to 62, and then 65, 68.

There's no one who has been living for centuries.

Children born today have a fifty-fifty chance of living to 100.

Older people may have always existed throughout history, but they were rare.

One could look over the past century and ask oneself, has the increased longevity been good, bad or indifferent?

In 1820, the average lifespan was just 26 years. Twenty-six years!

When the social security age was first established as 65, most people didn't live to be that old.

This increase in the world's population represents humanity's victory against death.

When I was young, I used to think that everyone should die at 70.

Live to 97 and you can do anything.

People die at 100 years old now. When I was a kid, people died at 67.

In a certain state it is indecent to live longer.

As you get older the odds are against you that you are still going to be on the planet.

Life expectancy in America is about 79, we should be able to live to 92. Somewhere along the line, we're leaving 13 years on the table. So my quest is -- how do we get those extra 13 years? And how do we make those extra 13 years good years?

Our lives consist of two numbers: date of birth and date of death.