‎A: At this point, sipping a long, cool drink with a good book under a palm tree sounds pretty good. When I'm 60 or 70, though, I might understand why I ain't got no satisfaction if that's all there is.
B: People used to say *life begins at 40. Super-seniors don't buy into that. For them it looks like *life begins at 60 or even 80.

What's the difference between life(no article) and a life?

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@nomadatlatl

This expression suggests that we are talking about “real“ life, or a life which is actually exciting and worth living. With the implication that what comes before is a kind of living death.

The expression – life begins at 40 – was indeed extremely popular back when people had to work massively hard and for long hours when they were young, or else face the probability that they would never have a family or a house. But after the age of 40, they felt like they could relax and have fun.

“A” life would be referring to just one person’s life, a single instance of life – and therefore would not be a general statement.