These are the effects of doting age: vain doubts, idle cares and overcaution.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
To a longer and worse life, a shorter and better is by all means to be preferred.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The Indian summer of life should be a little sunny and sad, like the season, and infinite in wealth and depth of tone-but never hustled.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
What’s a man’s age? He must hurry more, that’s all; Cram in a day, what his youth took a year to hold.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
Avarice, in old age, is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road the nearer we approach to our journey’s end?
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
As for old age, embrace and love it. It abounds with pleasure if you know how to use it. The gradually declining years are among the sweetest in a man’s life, and I maintain that, even when they have reached the extreme limit, they have their pleasure still.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Give me a young man in whom there is something of the old,
and an old man in whom there is something of the young.
Guided so, a man may grow old in body, but never in mind.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
It can be set down as a broad, general principle that we cannot indulge in idleness and abundance during both the first and second half of our life. Study, application, industry, enthusiasm while we are young usually enable us to enjoy life when we grow older. But unless we toil and strive and earn all we can in the first half, the second half of our life is liable to bring disappointment, discomfort, distress. The time to put forth effort is when we are most able to do it, namely, in the years of our greatest strength. The law of compensation hasn’t ceased to function.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father.
—Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927–2014) Colombian Novelist, Short-Story Writer
How can I die? I’m booked.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.
—Jackie Joyner-Kersee (b.1962) American Athlete
Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.
—Edward Hoagland (b.1932) American Essayist, Novelist
It is time to be old, to take in sail.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Most people think that aging is irreversible and we know that there are mechanisms even in the human machinery that allow for the reversal of aging, through correction of diet, through anti-oxidants, through removal of toxins from the body, through exercise, through yoga and breathing techniques, and through meditation.
—Deepak Chopra (b.1946) Indian-born American Physician, Public Speaker, Writer
Not till the fire is dying in the grate, Look we for any kinship with the stars. Oh, wisdom never comes when it is gold, And the great price we paid for it full worth: We have it only when we are half earth. Little avails that coinage to the old!
—George Meredith (1828–1909) British Novelist, Poet, Critic
Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
—Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) British Crime Writer
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Being seventy is not a sin.
—Golda Meir (1898–1978) Israeli Head of State
Old age is a shipwreck.
—Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) French General, Statesman
After 40, one’s face begins to tell more than one’s tongue.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
I shall soon be six-and-twenty. Is there anything in the future that can possibly console us for not being always twenty-five?
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
You are young at any age if you are planning for tomorrow.
—Unknown
When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood.
—Sam Ewing (1949–2018) American Writer, Humorist
The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life by 30 to 50 years.
—Deepak Chopra (b.1946) Indian-born American Physician, Public Speaker, Writer
The old—like children—talk to themselves, for they have reached that hopeless wisdom of experience which knows that though one were to cry it in the streets to multitudes, or whisper it in the kiss to one’s beloved, the only ears that can ever hear one’s secrets are one’s own!
—Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) American Playwright
If you take all the experience and judgment of men over fifty out of the world, there wouldn’t be enough left to run it.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Age that lessens the enjoyment of life, increases our desire of living.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
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