I have two friends that turned 40 this month. These are guys I’ve known since college so it’s hard to believe we’re approaching this landmark age. My own 40th birthday is also on the horizon and will happen in the next year.

My has changed a lot over the past 10 years. When I turned 30, I didn’t have any kids, didn’t own a home, and was still engaged to be married. Fast forward a decade and I’ve hit all of these life events with a couple kids, a home, and a wife. The majority of my friends have gone through a similar transition over the past few years.

If you have a friend or loved one who is about to turn 40, send him or her heartfelt greetings as congratulations on reaching this significant milestone! Here are some ideas for birthday messages that aren’t lame.

40th Birthday Slogans

Turning 40 really isn’t that bad.

  • Is your loved one or friend celebrating his or her 40th birthday? Use any of these slogans to greet him or her.
  • Welcome to the golden age! Happy 40th birthday!
  • 40 is the new 20! Cheers to you!
  • You’re a teen in a 40-year-old body. Happy birthday!
  • 40 is about being awesome! Cheer up!
  • Party 40 times! Happy birthday!
  • 40 is the best time of your life! Happy birthday!
  • Happy 40th birthday! Let’s see you blow some candles.
  • It’s not the age, it’s the face! Happy birthday on your 40th year!
  • 40 years old is just 10 years old times 4.
  • You’re becoming lovelier every day! Happy 40th birthday!
  • Wrinkles are a sign of wisdom. Happy 40th birthday!

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  • Be proud of your wrinkles! That’s 40 years of knowledge!
  • You may be growing old. But you’re becoming prettier!
  • 40 years old! You’re at the perfect age!
  • 40 years and you’re still incredibly pretty / handsome!
  • Happy 40th birthday! Have an awesome day today!
  • Are you ready to celebrate the best year of your life?
  • You’re 40 times more incredible today!
  • You’re becoming lovelier now that you’re 40.
  • 40 years old ain’t bad at all!
  • Thank you for 40 years of friendship and love.
  • More fun and games at 40! Happy birthday!
  • Enjoy your amazing 40th birthday!
  • 40 means you’re 40 times special.
  • Here’s to a 40th toast to a wonderful person!
  • 40 is the start of something new!
  • You’re actually only 30—with interest!
  • Age is just something you write on a form. Happy 40th birthday!
  • Still young, still wise, still lovely! Happy 40th birthday!
  • I wish I was 40, along with you.
  • Cheers to 40 years of sheer awesomeness!
  • Wear your wrinkles with pride. Happy 40th birthday!
  • You’re fortylicious!
  • Let’s celebrate your 40th birthday with sweet cake and sweet words.

40th Birthday Quotes

Celebrate coming of age with these quotes.

If you’re stumped for an original greeting for the 40-year-old celebrant, you can use any of these quotes to include in a card.

“Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is the youth of old age.”
“At 40, you sing along with the elevator music.”
“At 40, your idea of weight lifting is standing up.
“At 40, every time you suck in your gut, your ankles swell.”
“Life begins at forty.” – W.B Pitkin
“This wine is forty years old. It certainly doesn’t show its age.” – Cicero
“At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.” – Benjamin Franklin

“The first forty years of life give us the text: the next thirty supply the commentary.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

“Every man over forty is a scoundrel.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The lovely thing about being forty is that you can appreciate twenty-five-year-old men.” – Colleen McCullough
“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents.” – Lewis Carroll
“40 is when your body gives your brain a list of things it’s not going to do anymore.”

“If life really begins on your 40th birthday, it’s because that’s when women finally get i—the guts to take back their lives.” – Laura Randolph

“To think, when one is no longer young, when one is not yet old, that one is no longer young, that one is not yet old, that is perhaps something.” – Samuel Beckett
“Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed.” – Edward Young

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“Guys are idiots, till they’re what—40 years old.” – Wes Borland
“We don’t understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it.” – Jules Renard

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
“As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.” — Norman Wisdom
“Today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. Make the most of it!” – Nicky Gumbel
“We turn not older with years, but newer every day.” – Emily Dickinson

“A birth-date is a reminder to celebrate life as well as to update life.” — Amit Kalantri

“Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research.” — Carl Gustav Jung
“Whatever with the past has gone, the best is always yet to come.” — Lucy Larcom
“Middle age is when you still believe you’ll feel better in the morning.” — Bob Hope
“Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the hell happened.” — Cora Harvey Armstrong
“Nice to be here? At my age, it’s nice to be anywhere.” – George Burns
“We are always the same age inside.” – Gertrude Stein

“Don’t regret another birthday. The good news is that you are alive and can celebrate it.” – Catherine Pulsifer

“Let us respect gray hairs, especially our own.” — J. P. Sears
“Birthdays come but once a year, celebrate and be of good cheer.” — Robert Rivers
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings
“Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.” – Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
“At twenty years of age, the will