Earlier this week Walter Breuning of Great Falls, Montana turned 114 years old. Some perspective: This is a man who lived through both the stock market crash of 1929 and the birth of the computer. When he went joyriding as a teen, it was in a Ford Model T — and you had to change the tires every five miles. He has been around to see Halley’s Comet twice. And yet, he has still got his wits about him. To celebrate his birthday, Breuning agreed to do an interview responding to questions submitted by people around the world. After the jump, we’ve pulled out some of the choice quotes from the clip — bits of wisdom gleaned from living in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
“My advice is for people to stay working as long as they can work, and not retire too early, ’cause you’ll find out you’ll need a little more money than what that Social Security pays for.”
His secret to living a long life: “I think one thing is the diet. I tell people when they’re too heavy that they really should reduce some of the weight. And you keep that in mind, and that body busy, doing things, exercise or whatever, keep ’em busy… you’ll feel a lot better.”
His message for today’s youth: “Stay in school, get educated as much as you can, because if you’re not educated today, fully, with all the computers and everything like that, you’re not going to get a good job. Because you got to be fully qualified to go to work on any kind of a job right now.”
“Be good to everybody. Be kind to everybody. People should be helping other people. The more you do for other people, the better you’re going to help yourself.”
“Every day is a good day. That’s what you should think about. Every day is a good day. And make it that way.”
Watch the full clip below.
[via The Daily What]