A quotation from Judith Martin

Although making distinctions based on age does violate the concept of total equality, what could be fairer? With any luck, age happens to everyone. According greater respect to greater age is the system most likely to give everyone a fair turn at high status, not to mention its being a nice little consolation for the loss of supple skin and a memory for names.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Star-Spangled Manners, ch. 3 (2003)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/martin-judith/75002/

A quotation from Pratchett

Because inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Moving Pictures (1990)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/pratchett-terry/3011…

#quote #quotes #quotation #age #gettingold #growingold #henoed #life #lifetime #old #passageoftime #time #terrypratchett

A quotation from Douglas Adams

I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
 
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
 
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
 
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English writer
The Salmon of Doubt (2002)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-douglas/66399/

A quotation from Byron, George Gordon, Lord:

«
Years steal
Fire from the mind as vigor from the limb;
And life’s enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/byron/73859/

A quotation from Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr.:

«
The buttonwood throws off its bark in large flakes, which one may find lying at its foot, pushed out, and at last pushed off, by that tranquil movement from beneath, which is too slow to be seen, but too powerful to be arrested. One finds them always, but one rarely sees them fall. So it is our youth drops from us, — sca…
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/holmes-sr-oliver-wendell/73595/

A quotation from Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr.:

«
Don’t ever think the poetry is dead in an old man because his forehead is wrinkled, or that his manhood has left him when his hand trembles! If they ever were there, they are there still!
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/holmes-sr-oliver-wendell/73288/

A quotation from Saxe, John Godfrey:

«
I’m growing fonder of my staff;
I’m growing dimmer in the eyes;
I’m growing fainter in my laugh;
I’m growing deeper in my sighs;
I’m growing careless of my dress;
I’m growing frugal of my gold;
I’m growing wise; I’m growing, — yes, —
I’m growing old!
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/saxe-john-godfrey/72085/

A quotation from Stevenson, Adlai:

«
Nothing so dates a man as to decry the younger generation.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewing/9181/

A quotation from Billings, Josh:

«
Sum folks, az they gro older, gro wizer; but most folks simply gro stubbornner.
 
[Some folks, as they grow older, grow wiser; but most folks simply grow more stubborn.]
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/billings-josh/71314/

A quotation from McLaughlin, Mignon:

«
The uses of a dictionary: at thirteen we look up lewd, licentious, lascivious; at thirty, febrile and inchoate; at fifty, endostosis.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/mclaughlin-mignon/70839/

A quotation from Richter, Jean-Paul:

«
What makes old age so sad is, not that our joys, but that our hopes then cease.
[Das Alter ist nicht trübe weil darin unsere Freuden, sondern weil unsere Hoffnungen aufhören.]
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/richter-jean-paul/70702/

A quotation from Disraeli, Benjamin:

«
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old Age a regret.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/disraeli-benjamin/20762/

A quotation from Fuller, Thomas (1654):

«
Old Age, tho’ despised, is coveted by all Men.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/69353/

A quotation from Euripides:

«
Alas, how right the ancient saying is:
We, who are old, are nothing else but noise
And shape. Like mimicries of dreams we go,
And have no wits, although we think us wise.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/euripides/68620/

A quotation from Robinson, Edward G.:

«
The first symptom is that hair grows on your ears. It’s very disconcerting.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/robinson-edward-g/68533/

A quotation from Larkin, Philip:

«
Perhaps being old is having lighted rooms
Inside your head, and having people in them, acting.
People you know, yet can’t quite name.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/larkin-philip/68051/

A quotation from Tennyson, Alfred, Lord:

«
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/tennyson-alfred-lord/5283/

A quotation from Chevalier, Maurice:

«
Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/chevalier-maurice/67868/

A quotation from Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr.:

«
Old age is like an opium-dream. Nothing seems real except what is unreal.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/holmes-sr-oliver-wendell/67271/

A quotation from Burns, Stephen L.:

«
The years swarm around me like midges, and though each tiny bite only costs me a single drop of blood, they are so thick I am nearly bled dry.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/burns-stephen-l/67107/