OLD AGE QUOTES VI

quotations about old age

Old Age quote

Science as culture misdirects the way in which old age is understood. Rather than valuing life in all its diversity, including its final phase, it leads to misguided devotion of resources to solving the problem of death. The focus on biological failure sets up a cultural construction of old age which leads to the low esteem in which it is currently held.

JOHN A. VINCENT

"Marketing Immortality", JSTOR Daily, February 2, 2017


If I am to tell you how to grow old gracefully, I must tell you at the beginning of life; for no man can grow old gracefully unless he begins early.

LYMAN ABBOTT

Problems of Life: Selections from the Writings of Rev. Lyman Abbott

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Old age diminishes our strength; it takes away our pleasures one after the other; it withers the soul as well as the body; it renders adventure and friendship difficult; and finally it is shadowed by thoughts of death.

ANDRÉ MAUROIS

An Art of Living

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All would live long, but none would be old.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1749

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Just like those who are incurably ill, the aged know everything about their dying except exactly when.

PHILIP ROTH

The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography

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Young he was not, so that one had to call him old, but the word did not suit him.

URSULA K. LE GUIN

The Farthest Shore

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The most valuable result of many years is a nicely balanced mind instinctively heedful of various errors.

WALTER BAGEHOT

Literary Studies

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I recently turned fifty, which is young for a tree, mid-life for an elephant, and ancient for a quarter-miler, whose son now says, "Dad I just can't run the quarter with you anymore unless I bring something to read."

BILL COSBY

Time Flies

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People often say to themselves in life that they should avoid a variety of occupation, and, more particularly, be the less willing to enter upon new work the older they grow. But it is easy to talk, easy to give advice to oneself and others. To grow old is itself to enter upon a new business; all the circumstances change, and a man must either cease acting altogether, or willingly and consciously take over the new rôle.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe

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Nothing makes you look older than attempting to look young.

KARL LAGERFELD

The Telegraph, May 12, 2014

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You can't be as old as I am without waking up with a surprised look on your face every morning: "Holy Christ, whaddya know -- I'm still around!"

PAUL NEWMAN

The Independent, June 17, 2006

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You know you're old if they have discontinued your blood type.

PHYLLIS DILLER

attributed, Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes & Brilliant Remarks

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You know you're getting older when you notice that more and more history questions happened in your lifetime!

TOM WILSON

Ziggy, July 3, 1999

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The only real change in life comes with the consciousness of old age.

AUSTIN O'MALLEY

Keystones of Thought

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Youth is the season of receptivity, and should be devoted to acquirement; and manhood of power--that demands an earnest application. Old age is for revision.

CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE

Intuitions and Summaries of Thought

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The greatest tragedy of old age is the tendency for the old to feel unneeded, unwanted, and of no use to anyone; the secret of happiness in the declining years is to remain interested in life, as active as possible, useful to others, busy, and forward looking.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Book of Common Sense Etiquette

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Maybe age is kinder to us than we think. With my bad eyes, I can't see how bad I look, and with my rotten memory, I have a good excuse for getting out of a lot of stuff.

ERMA BOMBECK

Family: The Ties that Bind ... And Gag!

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There's nothing like being old to be sure of everything.

FRAN LEBOWITZ

interview, Index Magazine, 1997

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Old men's eyes are like old men's memories; they are strongest for things a long way off.

GEORGE ELIOT

Romola

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Amidst all the wonders recorded in holy writ no instance can be produced where a young woman from real inclination has preferred an old man.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, September 30, 1779

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