Ageing

"What is the worst of woes that wait on age? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow? To view each loved one blotted from life's page, And be alone on earth as I am now."

"He has grown aged in this world of woe, In deeds, not years, piercing the depths of life. So that no wonder waits him."

"Years steal Fire from the mind, as vigor from the limb; And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim."

"Oh, for one hour of blind old Dandolo, Th' octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe!"

"Just as old age is creeping on apace, And clouds come o'er the sunset of our day, They kindly leave us, though not quite alone, But in good company—the gout or stone."

"My days are in the yellow leaf; The flowers and fruits of love are gone; The worm, the canker, and the grief Are mine alone!"

"For oute of olde feldys, as men sey, Comyth al this newe corn from yere to yere; And out of olde bokis, in good fey, Comyth al this newe science that men lere."

"I think every man is a fool or a physician at thirty years of age."

"Mature fieri senem, si diu velis esse senex."

": You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long."

"The spring, like youth, fresh blossoms doth produce, But autumn makes them ripe and fit for use: So Age a mature mellowness doth set On the green promises of youthful heat."

"His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated."

"Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old Age a regret."

"The Disappointment of Manhood succeeds to the delusion of Youth; let us hope that the heritage of Old Age is not Despair."

"No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one Autumnal face."

"Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years; Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more; Till like a clock worn put with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still."

"His hair just grizzled As in a green old age."

"Forsake not an old friend; for the new is not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine; when it is old, thou shalt drink it with pleasure."

"Nature abhors the old."

"We do not count a man's years, until he has nothing else to count."

"Remote from cities liv'd a Swain, Unvex'd with all the cares of gain; His head was silver'd o'er with age, And long experience made him sage."

"In a good old age."

"Old and well stricken in age."

"She may very well pass for forty-three, In the dusk with a light behind her."

"One often says to oneself … that one ought to avoid having too many different businesses, to avoid becoming a jack-of-all-trades, and that the older one gets, the more one ought to avoid entering into new business. But … the very fact of growing older means taking up a new business; all our circumstances change, and we must either stop doing anything at all or else willing and consciously take on the new role we have to play on life’s stage."

"Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht, Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder."

": Age childish makes, they say, but 'tis not true; We're only genuine children still in Age's season."

"Old age is courteous—no one more: For time after time he knocks at the door, But nobody says, "Walk in, sir, pray!" Yet turns he not from the door away, But lifts the latch, and enters with speed, And then they cry, "A cool one, indeed.""

"O blest retirement! friend to life's decline— Retreats from care, that never must be mine How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these, A youth of labour with an age of ease!"

"I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine."

"They say women and music should never be dated."

"Alike all ages: dames of ancient days Have led their children thro' the mirthful maze, And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore, Has frisk'd beneath the burthen of threescore."

"Slow-consuming age."

"Struggle and turmoil, revel and brawl— Youth is the sign of them, one and all. A smoldering hearth and a silent stage— These are a type of the world of Age."

"To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old."

"You hear that boy laughing? You think he's all fun; But the angels laugh, too, at the good he has done. The children laugh loud as they troop to his call. And the poor man that knows him laughs loudest of all!"

"A green old age, unconscious of decays, That proves the hero born in better days."

"When he's forsaken, Wither'd and shaken, What can an old man do but die?"

"Tempus abire tibi est, ne… Rideat et pulset lasciva decentius ætas."

": It is time for thee to be gone, lest the age more decent in its wantonness should laugh at thee and drive thee off the stage."

"Boys must not have th' ambitious care of men, Nor men the weak anxieties of age."

"Seu me tranquilla senectus Exspectat, seu mors atris circumvolat alis."

": Either a peaceful old age awaits me, or death flies round me with black wings."

"Ladies, stock and tend your hive, Trifle not at thirty-five; For, howe'er we boast and strive, Life declines from thirty-five; He that ever hopes to thrive Must begin by thirty-five."

"Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage, Till pitying Nature signs the last release, And bids afflicted worth retire to peace."

"L'on craint la vieillesse, que l'on n'est pas sûr de pouvoir atteindre."

": We dread old age, which we are not sure of being able to attain."

"L'on espère de vieillir, et l'on craint la vieillesse; c'est-à-dire, l'on aime la vie et l'on fuit la mort."

": We hope to grow old and we dread old age; that is to say, we love life and we flee from death."

"The sunshine fails, the shadows grow more dreary, And I am near to fall, infirm and weary."