Ageing

"As I give thought to the matter, I find four causes for the apparent misery of old age; first, it withdraws us from active accomplishments; second, it renders the body less powerful; third, it deprives us of almost all forms of enjoyment; fourth, it stands not far from death."

"No one is so old that he does not think he could live another year."

"Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more."

""I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom."

"Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man"

"εἰ καὶ ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος διαφθείρεται, ἀλλ’ ὁ ἔσω ἡμῶν ἀνακαινοῦται ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ."

"‘Once when the Blessed One was living at Savathi in the Eastern Monastery, the Palace of Migara’s Mother, he had risen from retreat in the evening and was sitting warming his back in the rays of the setting sun,’ we learn. As Ananda was massaging his limbs, he noticed the changes that had overtaken the Buddha, and mentioned them. ‘So it is, Ananda, so it is,’ the Buddha replied. ‘Youth has to age, health has to sicken, life has to die. Now the colour of my skin is no more clear and bright; all my limbs are flaccid and wrinkled, my body is bent forward, and there seems a change in the sense faculties of my eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodily sensation,’ so the Blessed One said. When the Sublime One had said this, the Master said further: ‘Shame on you, sordid Age! Maker of ugliness. Age has now trampled down The form that once had grace. To live a hundred years Is not to cheat Decay, That gives quarter to none And tramples down all things.’"

"Ananda, I am now old, worn out, venerable, one who has traversed life’s path, I have reached the term of life, which is eighty. Just as an old cart is made to go by being held together with straps, so the Tathagata’s body is kept going by being strapped up. It is only when the Tathagata withdraws his attention from outside signs, and by the cessation of certain feelings, enters into the signless concentration of mind, that his body knows comfort."

"One should pay attention to an old man's words. One should submit oneself to his protection."

"The instructions of an old man are precious."

"Age is deformed, youth unkind, We scorn their bodies, they our mind."

"If youth only knew; if only age could."

"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me."

"An old goat is never the more reverend for his beard."

"Old age is not so fiery as youth, but when once provoked cannot be appeased."

"Age imprints more wrinkles on the mind than it does on the face."

"En vieillissant, on devient plus fou et plus sage."

": As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish."

"Peu de gens savent être vieux."

": Few persons know how to be old."

"La vieillesse est un tyran qui défend, sur peine de la vie, tous les plaisirs de la jeunesse."

": Old age is a tyrant who forbids, upon pain of death, all the pleasures of youth."

"My God! my time is in Thine hands. Should it please Thee to lengthen my life, and complete, as Thou hast begun, the work of blanching my locks, grant me grace to wear them as an unsullied crown of honour."

"That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang."

"There are so few who can grow old with a good grace."

"Like our shadows, Our wishes lengthen, as our sun declines."

"But now at thirty years my hair is gray–– (I wonder what it will be like at forty? I thought of a peruke the other day) My heart is not much greener; and, in short, I Have squander'd my whole summer while 'twas May, And feel no more the spirit to retort; I Have spent my life, both interest and principal, And deem not, what I deem'd, my soul invincible."

"There is an old age which has more youth of heart than youth itself."

"It was a satisfactory thing to hear that the old gentleman was going to lead a new life, for it was pretty evident that his old one would not last him much longer."

"As we grow old....the beauty turns inward."

"When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age."

"There is nothing so unreasonable as infancy, excepting the maturer stages of life."

"... bledě modré oči [Slečny Elis] jistě padesátkráte viděly zemi v tom krásném jarním rouše."

"Old age deprives the intelligent man only of qualities useless to wisdom."

"All the best sands of my life are somehow getting into the wrong end of the hourglass. If I could only reverse it! Were it in my power to do so, would I?"

"I still think of myself as I was 25 years ago. Then I look in a mirror and see an old bastard and I realize it's me."

"I recently turned 60. Practically a third of my life is over."

"When you're forty, half of you belongs to the past — and when you're seventy, nearly all of you."

"The land of easy mathematics where he who works adds up and he who retires subtracts."

"He was filled with terrible knowing: This day had been exactly as empty as the last and tomorrow would be the same. This is what it is to be old, Henry thought."

"One of the more traumatic aspects of reaching age 40 is that you no longer have the same body you had when you were 21. I know I don't. Sometimes when I take a shower I look down at my body and I want to scream: "Hey, THIS isn't my body! THIS body belongs to Willard Scott!" But this is perfectly natural. Screaming in the shower, I mean. Reaching age 40, however, is NOT natural. I base this statement on extensive scientific documentation in the form of a newspaper article I vaguely remember reading once, which stated that the life expectancy for human beings in the wild is about 35 years. Think about what that means. It means that if you were in the wild, even in the nonsmoking section, by now you'd be Worm Chow. So we can clearly see that going past age 40 is basically an affront to Nature, with Exhibit A being the Gabor sisters."

"Why do we get older? Why do our bodies wear out? Why can't we just go on and on and on, accumulating a potentially infinite number of Frequent Flier mileage points? These are the kinds of questions that philosophers have been asking ever since they realized that being a philosopher did not involve any heavy lifting. And yet the answer is really very simple: Our bodies are mechanical devices, and like all mechanical devices, they break down. Some devices, such as battery-operated toys costing $39.95, break down almost instantly upon exposure to the Earth's atmosphere. Other devices, such as stereo systems owned by your next-door neighbor's 13-year-old son who likes to listen to bands with names like "Nerve Damage" at a volume capable of disintegrating limestone, will continue to function perfectly for many years, even if you hit them with an ax. But the fundamental law of physics is that sooner or later every mechanism ceases to function for one reason or another, and it is never covered under the warranty."

"As we know from slicing up dead worms in Biology Lab, the "parts" that make up this miraculous "mechanism" that we call the human body are called "cells"- billions and billions (even more, in the case of Marlon Brando) of organisms so tiny that we cannot see or hear them unless you have been using illegal narcotics. When you are very young, each of your cells, based on its individual personality and aptitude, selects an area of specialization, such as the thigh, in which to pursue its career. As you grow, the cell multiplies, and it teaches its offspring to be thigh cells also, showing them the various "tricks of the trade." Thus the proud thigh-cell tradition is handed down from generation to generation, providing you with thighs so sleek and taut that they look great even when encased in Spandex garments that would be a snug fit on a Bic pen. But as your body approaches middle age, this cellular discipline starts to break down. The newer cells- you know how it is with the young- start to challenge the conventional values of their elders. "What's so great about sleek and taut?" is what these newer cells would say, if they had mouths, which thank God they do not. They become listless and bored, and many of them, looking for "kicks," turn to cellulite. Your bodily tissue begins to deteriorate, gradually becoming saggier and lumpier, until one day you glance in the mirror and realize, to your horror, that you look as though for some reason you are attempting to smuggle out of the country an entire driveway's worth of gravel concealed inside your upper legs. And this very same process is going on all over your body."

"Is there something you can do about it? You're darned right there is! You can fight back. Mister Old Age is not going to get you, by golly! All you need is a little determination- a willingness to get out of that reclining lounge chair, climb into that sweatsuit, lace on those running shoes, stride out that front door, and hurl yourself in front of that municipal bus.. No, wait. Sorry. For a moment there I got carried away by the bleakness of it all. Forget what I said. Really. There is absolutely no need to become suicidally depressed about the fact that every organ in your body is headed straight down the toilet. There really are things you can do to keep your body looking healthy and youthful for years to come. But before I discuss these things, I want you to answer the following questions honestly: Are you willing to make the hard sacrifices needed to be really healthy? Are you willing to commit yourself totally to a program of regular exercise, close medical supervision, and the elimination of all caffeine, alcohol, and rich foods, to be replaced by a strict diet of nutrition-rich, kelp-like plant growths so unappetizing that they will make you actually lust for tofu? Or are you the kind of shallow, irresponsible person who wants a purely cosmetic change, a "quick and dirty" surface gloss that may make you look young and healthy, but actually has no long-term value? Me too."

"Old age is like learning a new profession. And not one of your own choosing."

"Nothing is so hateful to the philistine as the "dreams of his youth." ... For what appeared to him in his dreams was the voice of the spirit, calling him once, as it does everyone. It is of this that youth always reminds him, eternally and ominously. That is why he is antagonistic toward youth."

"Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

"AGE, n. That period of life in which we compound for the vices that we still cherish by reviling those that we have no longer the enterprise to commit."

"Yet somehow our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members."

"When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to aging, not beyond aging, sees another who is aged, he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to aging, not beyond aging. If I – who am subject to aging, not beyond aging – were to be horrified, humiliated, & disgusted on seeing another person who is aged, that would not be fitting for me."