Retirement

“ But if once a man have a taste of true and happy retirement, though it be but a short hour, or day, now and then, he has found, or is beginning to find, a sure place of refuge, of blessed renewal, toward which in the busiest hours he will find his thoughts wistfully stealing. How stoutly will he meet the buffets of the world if he knows he has such a place of retirement where all is well-ordered and full of beauty, and right counsels prevail, and true things are noted. ”

“ We are so desirous to be well (for what is retirement without health?) that we are ever fancying ourselves ill; and, like the man in the ‘Spectator,’ we weigh ourselves daily, and live but by grains and scruples. Retirement is happy only for the poet, for to him it is not retirement. He secedes from one world but to gain another, and he finds not ennui in seclusion: why? Not because seclusion hath repose, but because it hath occupation. In one word, then, I say of action and of indolence, grant the same ills to both, and to action there is the readier escape or the nobler consolation. ”

“ Writing, on June 8, to the Governors of the several States, he said--"The great object for which I had the honour to hold an appointment in the service of my country being accomplished, I am now preparing to return to that domestic retirement which, it is well known, I left with the greatest reluctance; a retirement for which I have never ceased to sigh, through a long and painful absence, and in which, remote from the noise and trouble of the world, I meditate to pass the remainder of life in a state of undisturbed repose." ”

“ There is indeed a retirement just and beneficial to the state, such as you, the bulk of my countrymen, innocently enjoy; that however is not the retirement of Æschines; far from it. Withdrawing himself from public life when he pleases, (and that is often) he watches for the moment when you are tired of a constant speaker, or when some reverse of fortune has befallen you, or anything untoward has happened (and many are the casualties of human life) ; at such a crisis he springs up an orator, rising from his retreat like a wind ”

“ Shall he retire far from the world, to evaporate, in continual invectives against it, the spleen and the rancour of his heart, and thus revenge himself of the injustice of men? But of what avail will be his retirement? It will afford only more leisure for retrospection, and fewer relaxations from chagrin. ”

“ The glory of the achievement lay not merely in the hourly repulse, over a period of fourteen days, of an overwhelming attack, and of a continued retirement, which somehow never broke, before such an inveterate pursuit. ”

“ In the bosom of retirement, how delightful is it to feel exempt from the mean intrigues, the endless difficulties and tumults, which active life ensures, and which retirement enables us so well to contemplate through the telescope of recollection. ”

“ Schwatz! oh yes; it would be very well to have a quiet place ready chosen for retirement when retirement should be necessary. But what did retirement mean? Would it not be to her simply a beginning of dying? A man, or a woman, should retire when no longer able to do the work of the world. But who in all the world could keep the Brunnenthal Peacock as well as she? Was she fatigued with her kitchen, or worn out with the charge of her guests, or worried inwardly by the anxieties of her position? ”

“ In that retirement, which is his voluntary choice, may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services—the gratitude of mankind; the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, which are daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of his country, which is opening from year to year. ”

“ Retirement has become essential to it; and one of its best consolations will be to witness the advancement of my country in all those pursuits and acquisitions which constitute the character of a wise and virtuous nation; and I offer sincere prayers to heaven that its benediction may attend yourselves, our country and all its sons. ”

“ We are both now grown old. You have been enjoying in retirement the recollections of the services you have rendered your country, and I am about to retire without an equal consciousness that I have not occupied places in which others would have done more good. But in all places and times I shall wish you every happiness, and salute you with great friendship and esteem. ”

“ The project of absolute retirement, one of the most reasonable I had ever formed, was strongly impressed upon my mind, and for the execution of it I was already taking measures, when Heaven, which prepared me a different destiny, plunged me into a another vortex. ”

“ Happy should I be to give up my laurels for the repose of retirement, did I not feel it to be my duty to be in the world. I certainly derive the most soothing consolation from my labours, the benefits of which are felt the world over ”

“ Were it not a sort of presumption to follow so great a person through his hours of retirement, to view him in the milder light of domestic life, we should find him engaged in the noble exercise of humanity, benevolence, and of every social virtue. ”

“ But it would be inexpressible, intolerable mortification to me, to have it said or suspected in the world of fashion, that I retreated from the ranks disabled instead of disgusted. A voluntary retirement is graceful and dignified; a forced retreat is awkward and humiliating. ”

“ My time for retirement from work has come. You will understand this, knowing my age, and that I am acting under medical advice. Owing to the liberality of both the Diocese and my parishioners, I am able to retire with a good annuity, besides what is due to me from our Pension Fund. So I am not under the necessity, so hard on many, of remaining at work, to its detriment, when no longer able to do full justice to it. ”

“ My lord Bolingbroke was very merry with me upon your journey, and hoped the world would be the better for your retirement, and that I should soon be the midwife. The schism bill was read the second time yesterday, and committed for to morrow, without a division. Every body is in the greatest consternation at your retirement, and wonders at the cause. ”

“ Charitable to the extent of not only relieving, but seeking, objects of distress with whom to share his entire income—generous even to bestowing one-third of his fortune at three-and-twenty on a brother richer than himself; self-denying, humble, contented, devoted to retirement, not from incapacity to shine in the world or to enjoy its pleasures, but from an opinion that retirement is, with certain exceptions, favourable to virtue. ”

“ Retirement is not the taste of our day.”
“Retirement!” thought I; “that may be exactly what would suit me at this moment,” and I drew near to listen.
“Find me a purchaser with seventy francs,” ejaculated the old man, “and I'll close with him.”
“What is it, Monsieur?” said I, bowing civilly to both.
“A 'quatorzième,' sir,” said the clerk, interposing, that he might earn his commission, in the event of a deal. “A quatorzième; and I am bound to say one of the best in this quarter of Paris. ”

“ We heartily pray that you may enjoy all health and happiness in your retirement, which, we trust, will be but temporary. We shall frequently ask the aid of your counsels and live in hope of your speedy return to active exertion, in the career in which you have laboured so vigorously, and which you so sincerely love. ”

“ It is true that she often talks of retirement as a desirable thing, but even if she should be inclined to join in this very economical plan of retirement, I think the persuasions of her friends would very likely influence her against it, and without her consent I shall not join in it myself. ”

“ It is surely not too much to ask that a man who has been thus treated—who has served his country for forty-four years, and always under the most arduous conditions—should be allowed to pass the evening of his days in retirement in the enjoyment of the very modest pittance to which his latter official services entitle him. ”

“ In{200} short, retirement might be due in those days to four causes, namely, weariness of the world which led men to seek repose in the solitude of a hermitage or monastery, political reasons which left men better able to work their ambition under cover of retired life, official orders which imposed retirement as a disciplinary measure, and physical infirmities which disabled men from taking an active part in life. ”

“ If you wish me to hold on, I must ask you what, if any, announcement respecting my retirement should be made. Up to this time I have simply stated to people who have questioned me, that nothing was definitely settled. I did not mention to any one my intention to write my letter of the 22nd expressing to you my wish to retire, nor have I made any one acquainted with my having written it, except of course Sheffield, who, as my private secretary, made a copy of it for me to keep. The question, therefore, as to announcing my retirement remains intact. ”

“ It has long been my fixed opinion, that in the latter part of life, when the duties owing to a family no longer call upon us to act on the public stage of life, it is not only more decent, but infinitely more eligible to live in an absolute retirement. ”

“ In a retirement you send men to the rear with orders to take up another position to protect your retirement; always see that they are accompanied by a competent leader, or when the last party falls back they will very likely find that their retirement is unsupported. ”

“ At age 55, participants were eligible for early retirement benefits, calculated in the same manner as normal retirement benefits, but reduced by five percent for each year by which a participant's retirement preceded the normal retirement age. ”

“ On retiring from power I wish you to take into consideration my effort and my sacrifices for the country’s cause, which has been, and still is, the cause of the people, of reason, justice, and right, so that you will agree with me that he who has thus labored has a right to even a slight rest, and this cannot be taken except in retirement and solitude. ”

“ Surely there is nothing in this that men can begrudge us. We have spent our lives on the high seas; let us die in harbour. Not that I would advise you to try to win fame by your retirement; one's retirement should neither be paraded nor concealed. ”

“ CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT Before increasing the business activities of the government and creating an enormous army of government officials, clerks and employees, all under Civil Service, it is well to consider some feasible plan of retirement, for it is a question that will not down.
The discussion of Civil Service as applied to governmental industrial operations will be incomplete unless it includes the question of retirement. Shall those who have been for many years on the government payroll be pensioned? With few exceptions that is what the present Civil Service employees desire. ”

“ Such is not the case, however, as the men, unfortunately not being entitled to pensions, have been allowed to continue to perform their duties long after pensionable [Pg 245] established men would have been retired, either willingly or compulsorily, under the regulations which now call for a Civil servant's retirement to be considered his reaching the age of sixty years. ”

“ This retirement is a long-established custom in this country and makes our habit of taking life easy such a contrast to the strenuous, hard-working ways of the western peoples who pride themselves upon dying in harness. ”

“ I am to draw your attention to the clauses in the temporary provisions under which option of electing the new or old Regulations for Retirement and Pay may be given you; and I am to request that you will state, in writing, without any delay, whether you wish to be dealt with under former Regulations or to accept the terms offered by this Order in Council; also, whether you wish to be considered as a Candidate for Retirement, irrespective of age, in order to facilitate the reductions of the Active Lists. ”

“ He is satisfied when his wants and those of his family are liberally provided for. His life is not strenuous. It is happy and filled with the joys of service and the companionship of youthful souls. Anxieties are in large measure overcome by the assurance that the state will provide necessities when [Pg 93] the time for retirement comes. Pensions are graduated according to individual necessity as well as with reference to position, term of service, and salary at the time of retirement. ”

“ During her retirement, which, according to the rank and position of her family, may last any time from a few days to several years, she has to observe a number of rules, such as not to be seen by a strange man, not to eat flesh or fish, and so on. ”

“ Since my return I have said, when sometimes I was proposed to resume my public life, that at my age, after my past services, after long and painful agitations and thirty years of work and anxieties, I believed I had a right to my retirement; that it was the turn of a younger generation to continue the endeavour that we had started; that the homeland has at all times the right to the services of her children, but that she should be equalizing the burden ”

“ The retirement process for persons deemed as in voluntary retirement as specified in the preceding Paragraphs who do not apply for retirement within six months starting from the next month after being notified by the respective representative bodies shall be conducted by the respective representative bodies. ”

“ Because the laws of many States, the practice of the Civil Service, the regulations of the Army and Navy, and the rules of many of our Universities and of almost every great private business enterprise, commonly fix the retirement age at seventy years or less. ”