Oprah Winfrey is beloved by millions. Somehow, despite her wealth and fame, she retains a friendly, personable quality that makes it seem like we’ve known her all our lives. But Oprah’s giftedness goes deeper than a charismatic, empathetic personality. Through her struggles, perseverance, and spiritual centeredness, she’s developed a deep well of practical wisdom that encourages people of any age and walk of life. If you’re in your 60’s Oprah has good advice for you. After all, she was there not so long ago herself, having just turned 70 this year. Following is a compilation of some of her motivational quotes for this stage of your relational and financial goals. 

24/7 Wall St. Insights

• People in their 60s are coming up fast on retirement. This is a time to find new focus, purpose, and energy for the Golden Years.
• Oprah is a great example of someone who turned her 60s into the peak of her professional and personal attainments. 
• You may still have years to go investing your retirement funds. We have a free report with some ideas: Discover “The Next NVIDIA

Oprah’s Career

Oprah was born in 1954 to a single mother in rural Mississippi. Oprah endured sexual molestation by several family members and, at 14, gave birth to a premature infant who passed away. She moved to Nashville and got a job in radio while she was in high school. Her engaging, conversational style gained her recognition and helped her move rapidly into television, getting her own television talk show in 1984, which ran until 2011. Oprah has written several books, starred in movies, and owns her own production company and magazine. As of 2024, she has a net worth of $3 billion, making her the wealthiest African-American woman in the world. 

Navigating our 60s

Life spans are quite long these days, so someone in their 60s still can still have decades of active years ahead of them. And the economy being what it is, retiring into a life of leisure just isn’t in the cards for a lot of people, who will supplement their Social Security by working as long as health permits. Although at this age many people are sharp and energetic—indeed, at the top of their game—our youth-oriented society tends to dismiss them.

One of the challenges of this time of life are to provide for the physical needs of our families in a way that uses our talents and experience and gives us a sense of making a meaningful contribution. But we also need to deepen and expand our relationship network, as we keenly experience the emptiness that can come when our children have flown the nest and perhaps we’ve lost a partner due to health issues or divorce. Advice from an accomplished mentor like Oprah can give us the shot in the arm we need to take active control of the direction our life is heading.  

1. Gratitude

• “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

Oprah’s comments on gratitude can remind us to be thankful for physical possessions, but they apply to lots of other areas as well. Do you work your way through an endless “to do” list every day to feel meaningful? What about starting a “done” list and feel glad about what you have accomplished? How would your relationship with your significant other transform if you focused on their positive attributes and what they bring to the relationship rather than what you wish would change about them? 

2. Struggle

• “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.”

Physical fitness is an obvious area where we understand that struggle leads to strength. But the same is true for other parts of our lives. How many people look back on the struggling early days of their marriage, for example, with fond memories of a small apartment and simple pleasures? What struggles are you going through at this stage of your life? Can you imagine how they are building your strength and resilience?

3. Love Over Fear

• “I believe that every single event in life happens is an opportunity to choose love over fear.”

People regularly sacrifice their lives for the ones they love. That can mean quite literally putting themselves in danger to save someone else. But it can also mean, on a daily basis, choosing to put your loved one’s needs ahead of your own. And this can make relationships frightening, especially if that love and sacrifice is not reciprocated. Even so, the choice to love rather than live in fear can open us to a richer, deeper experience of life. 

4. You Do You

• “Don’t let people talk you into what they think is you.”

At any age, the people around us have expectations of who we are and who we should be. Satisfying all those conflicting expectations is impossible, though, and it will never satisfy you, either. A nice thing about aging is that we often develop more of a sense of confidence to do our own thing regardless of what people think. Maybe if we start to express ourselves more authentically we’ll find that others will adjust, and no doubt will love us even more. 

5. The Past is Powerless

• “Whatever has happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now.”

Raised in rural poverty in Mississippi, Oprah endured sexual abuse, racism, and betrayal on her rise to the top. Rather than letting those experiences embitter her, she learned that she was strong enough to get up and continue pursuing her dreams. Her past only had the power over her that she allowed it to have. Rather than let it overtake her, she channeled it to help others and help herself. 

6. Perspective

• “Go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.”

Oprah is great at encouraging people who make mistakes. If you never make a mistake, it’s a pretty good indication that you’re not trying anything new and difficult. You’re not growing and improving, you’re just stagnant. But when you take a risk and fall down, you get a different perspective. You’ve learned what not to do. But you’ve also learned that falling down didn’t kill you. You can get up, try again, and again, and again . . . until you can do it without falling.

7. Heaven

• “My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with.”

Well obviously, we’re going to take the baked potato in this quote in a more general, metaphorical sense . . . although we do hope heaven will have endless no-carb potatoes! But here Oprah is getting at the idea of just being satisfied with the simple things of life, such as a “comfort food” and a “comfort person.” If you can share this perspective, it doesn’t matter whether you have millions of dollars in your bank account or just enough to get by. Life can be satisfying if you can enjoy the basics and surround yourself with caring people. 

8. Your Energy

• “You are responsible for the energy that you create for yourself, and you’re responsible for the energy that you bring to others.”

The term “energy” can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Some people think we actually do emit and receive energy that can attract or repel people and the abundant life. Others might just observe that other people can pick up on our moods (or the “energy”) we bring and be influenced by them. Either way, wouldn’t you rather be the kind of person who others are glad to see coming because you bring life instead of draining it away?

9. Mistakes

• “Every stumble is not a fall, and every fall does not mean failure.”

We all know that no one’s perfect. Sometimes, though, we act as if we are supposed to be perfect even though no one else is. We can beat ourselves up over missteps and allow what could have been a minor setback into a major demotivation that causes us to give up on some of our most important goals and dreams. How about instead just recognizing that stumbles are a natural and inevitable part of covering the territory between where you are and where you want to be?

10. Do Good

• “If you want to feel good, you have to go out and do some good.”

The Bible teaches that it is “more blessed to give than to receive” and some of the world’s most generous people have found this to be true. Oprah was noted for giving away cars and other expensive gifts to her audience members and continues to support philanthropic causes to this day. But you don’t need a billion dollars to share what you have, whether that’s money, time, or your talents. At any income level, stinginess makes you feel poor; generosity makes you feel rich. 

 

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