--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For the last third of life there remains…" description: "\"For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone isalways stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying.\" — Käthe Kollwitz" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/kathe-kollwitz-16802_great-saying-by-grea_for-the-last-third-of-life-there-remains_229085.png" --- # For the last third of life there remains only work. It… ![“For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone isalways stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying.” quote by Käthe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/kathe-kollwitz-16802_great-saying-by-grea_for-the-last-third-of-life-there-remains_229085.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/kathe-kollwitz-16802_great-saying-by-grea_for-the-last-third-of-life-there-remains_229085.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/kathe-kollwitz-16802_great-saying-by-grea_for-the-last-third-of-life-there-remains_229085.png) > “For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone isalways stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying.” [Käthe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) This quote is also attributed to [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) in other sources. Attributions for famous quotes are often disputed. ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. In later life, work becomes the primary source of stimulation, renewal, and satisfaction. **In simple terms:** Work gives purpose and joy in old age. Key Takeaway Find meaningful work. Themes aging purpose fulfillment Mood hopeful inspired Type philosophical encouraging When to use this quote - retirement - career transition - volunteering Key Concepts meaningful labor creative expression Questions to Reflect On - What work gives you energy? - How can you stay engaged later in life? A Different Perspective Work may not be accessible to everyone. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Rejuvenating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rejuvenating/) ## Related quotes > [For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone is always stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/for-the-last-third-of-life-there-remains-only-work-it-alone-is-always/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [Actors, I don't think, ever really grow up. I'm hoping that that rejuvenating process applies to me, too. It has so far. I've been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-jacobi/actors-i-don-t-think-ever-really-grow-up-i-m-hoping-that-that/) [Derek Jacobi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-jacobi/) > [It never gets old. Working with somebody like Kevin Hart is rejuvenating in a lot of ways. He's such a pro. He's so good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ice-cube/it-never-gets-old-working-with-somebody-like-kevin-hart-is/) [Ice Cube](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ice-cube/) > [Change is good, and ultimately, creating a new path at this point in my life is energizing, creative, and rejuvenating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-matheson/change-is-good-and-ultimately-creating-a-new-path-at-this-point-in-my/) [Tim Matheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-matheson/) > [When language is treated beautifully and interestingly, it can feel good for the body: It's nourishing; it's rejuvenating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aimee-bender/when-language-is-treated-beautifully-and-interestingly-it-can-feel/) [Aimee Bender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aimee-bender/) > [The SCO countries have been connected historically through shared commonalities, which we are constantly rejuvenating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushma-swaraj/the-sco-countries-have-been-connected-historically-through-shared/) [Sushma Swaraj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushma-swaraj/) > [There are clothes which keep rejuvenating themselves instead of getting worn out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-juarroz/there-are-clothes-which-keep-rejuvenating-themselves-instead-of/) Roberto Juarroz > [“Ah, professor, if only you had discovered a way of rejuvenating hair!” Chapter 2”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-bulgakov/ah-professor-if-only-you-had-discovered-a-way-of-rejuvenating-hair/) [Mikhail Bulgakov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-bulgakov/) > [“Doing nothing has become one of the lost luxuries in these hectic times. But doing nothing, even for five minutes, can be rejuvenating. Go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-marques/doing-nothing-has-become-one-of-the-lost-luxuries-in-these-hectic/) [Joan Marques](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-marques/) > [Change is often rejuvenating, invigoration, fun... and necessary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-povich/change-is-often-rejuvenating-invigoration-fun-and-necessary/) [Lynn Povich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynn-povich/) > [All around the dining hall, you can feel the rejuvenating effect that a good meal can bring on. The way it can make people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/all-around-the-dining-hall-you-can-feel-the-rejuvenating-effect-that/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Meditation is a vital way to purify and quiet the mind, thus rejuvenating the body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/meditation-is-a-vital-way-to-purify-and-quiet-the-mind-thus/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [To endure life remains, when all is said, the first duty of all living being Illusion can have no value if it makes this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/to-endure-life-remains-when-all-is-said-the-first-duty-of-all-living/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [Life remains the same for me. It's always been a battle against injustice and corruption. That battle goes on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arvind-kejriwal/life-remains-the-same-for-me-it-s-always-been-a-battle-against/) [Arvind Kejriwal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arvind-kejriwal/) > [Wish your Life always remains Bright throughout.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/babloo/wish-your-life-always-remains-bright-throughout/) [Babloo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/babloo/) ## More by Käthe Kollwitz > [To this day I do not know whether the power which has inspired my works is something related to religion, or is indeed religion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/to-this-day-i-do-not-know-whether-the-power-which-has-inspired-my/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [My work is not, of course, pure art in the sense that Schmidt-Rottluff's is, but it is art nonetheless... It is all right with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/my-work-is-not-of-course-pure-art-in-the-sense-that-schmidt-rottluff/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [Look at life with the eyes of a child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/look-at-life-with-the-eyes-of-a-child/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [How long were the stretches of toilsome tacking back and forth, of being blocked, of being thrown back again and again. But all that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/how-long-were-the-stretches-of-toilsome-tacking-back-and-forth-of/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [There are moments on most days when I feel a deep and sincere gratitude, when I sit at the open window, and there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/there-are-moments-on-most-days-when-i-feel-a-deep-and-sincere/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [I thought I was a revolutionary and was only an evolutionary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/i-thought-i-was-a-revolutionary-and-was-only-an-evolutionary/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [One day, a new ideal will arise, and there will be an end to all wars. I die convinced of this. It will need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/one-day-a-new-ideal-will-arise-and-there-will-be-an-end-to-all-wars-i/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [I have never been able to carry out any work coolly. On the contrary it is done, so to speak, with my own blood.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/i-have-never-been-able-to-carry-out-any-work-coolly-on-the-contrary/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [While I drew, and wept along with the terrified children I was drawing, I really felt the burden I am bearing. I felt that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/while-i-drew-and-wept-along-with-the-terrified-children-i-was-drawing/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [Recently I began reading my old diaries. Back to before the war. Gradually I became very depressed. 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Also, the higher up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/as-in-everything-else-i-find-that-age-is-not-good-for-much-that-one/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [I can always paint very well with my eyes, but with my hands it doesn't always work out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/i-can-always-paint-very-well-with-my-eyes-but-with-my-hands-it-doesn/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [Where do all the women who have watched so carefully over the lives of their beloved ones get the heroism to send them to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/where-do-all-the-women-who-have-watched-so-carefully-over-the-lives/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [Pacifism simply is not a matter of calm looking on; it is work, hard work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/pacifism-simply-is-not-a-matter-of-calm-looking-on-it-is-work-hard/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [Every war carries within it the war which will answer it. Every war is answered by a new war, until everything, everything is smashed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/every-war-carries-within-it-the-war-which-will-answer-it-every-war-is/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) [Explore all 39 Käthe Kollwitz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) ## More Great saying by great authors quotes > [Rosalind. Well, this is the forest of Arden. Touchstone. Ay, now am I in Arden, the more fool I. 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Like aqua vitae with a midwife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/maria-nay-but-say-true-doesit-work-upon-him-sir-toby-belch-like-aqua/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of thegreat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-great-must-submit-to-the-dominion-of-prudence-and-of-virtue-or/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [She who does not know she isa patient lies Within a tent of green, and sleeps without a sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-kirkup/she-who-does-not-know-she-isa-patient-lies-within-a-tent-of-green-and/) James Kirkup > [In retirement, I look for days off from my days off. 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