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OLD
OLD AGE

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see "AGE" for related links
see: "GOOD OLD DAYS"

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Old friends are best. King James us'd to call for
his Old Shoes, they were easiest for his Feet.
--John Selden (1584—1654)
English historian.
_Table Talk_ [1689]

& see:

Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust!
Old authors to read! — Alonso of Aragon was wont to say
in commendation of age, that age appeared to be best
in these four things.
--Melchior de Polignac (1661—1742)
French Cardinal, diplomat, and writer.

& see:

I love everything that's old; old friends, old
times, old manners, old books, old wine.
--Oliver Goldsmith (1728—1774)
Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and dramatist.
_She Stoops to Conquer_ [1773], act I, sc. 1

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There are two kinds of fools: one says, 'This is old, therefore
it is good'; the other says, 'This is new, therefore it is better.'
--William Ralph Inge (1860—1954)
English writer and Dean of St. Paul's [1911-1934].

We get too soon old and too late smart.
--Pennsylvania Dutch proverb

Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavour.
[Latin: Vetera semper in laude, presentia in fastidio.]
--Tacitus [or Publius Cornelius Tacitus or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
(c.55—c.117), Roman orator, lawyer, senator, and historian.

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antediluvian (adj.) [ζn-ti-dκ-'lu-vee-κn]
Of or relating to the period before the Biblical flood
and, by extension, anything that was manufactured,
evolved or developed an extremely long time ago.

antiquarian [an-tuh-KWAIR-ee-uhn], noun:
1. One who collects, studies, or deals in objects or relics from the past.
2. Of or pertaining to antiquarians or objects or relics from the past.
3. Dealing in or concerned with old or rare books.

hoary [HOR-ee], adjective:
1. White or gray with age; as, "hoary hairs."
2. Ancient; extremely old; remote in time past.

senescent (adj.) [sκ-'nes-κnt]
The state of being old, the process of becoming old.



OLD AGE

.
.

see "AGE" for related links


To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful,
kindly, cheerful, reverent — that is to triumph
over old age.
--Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836—1907)
American poet, short-story writer, and editor.
_The Writings of Thomas Bailey Aldrich_, p. 36 [1907]

Our life much resembles wine: when there is only a little
remaining, it becomes vinegar; for all the ills of human
nature crowd to old age as if it were a workshop.
--Antiphanes (fl. early 4th cent. B.C.)
Greek comic poet.

The vine produces more grapes when it is young, but
better grapes for wine when it is old, because its juices
are more perfectly concocted.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.

"Aren't you Tallulah Bankhead?"
"I'm what's left of her, darling."
-- anecdote, Richard Gottlieb,
"Dah-ling: The Strange Case of Tallulah Bankhead",
_The New Yorker_ [16 May 2005]

To me old age is always fifteen years
older than I am.
--Bernard Baruch (1870—1965)
American financier.
In "Newsweek" [29 August 1955].

-

If I'd known I was gonna live this long,
I'd have taken better care of myself.
{on reaching the age of 100}
--Eubie Blake (1883—1983)
American ragtime pianist.
In "Observer" [13 February 1983].

& see:

If I'd known how old I was going to be,
I'd have taken better care of myself.
--Adolph Zukor (1873—1976)
Hungarian-born American founder of Paramount Pictures.
Quoted by Benny Green in _Radio Times_ [17 February 1979].

-

Old age is . . . a lot of crossed off names in an
address book.
--Ronald Blythe (1922— )
English writer.
"The View in Winter" [1979]

It is noticeable how intuitively in age we go back with strange
fondness to all that is fresh in the earliest dawn of youth. If we
never cared for little children before, we delight to see them roll
in the grass over which we hobble on crutches. The grandsire
turns wearily from his middle-aged, careworn son, to listen with
infant laugh to the prattle of an infant grandchild. It is the old who
plant young trees; it is the old who are most saddened by the
autumn; and feel most delight in the returning spring.
--Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803—1873)
British novelist and politician.

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.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" [1812], canto II, st. 98

The man who works and is not bored
is never old.
--Pablo Casals (1876—1973)
Spanish-born cellist and conductor.
In J. Lloyd Webber (ed.) _Song of the Birds_ [1985].

Old age is when your former classmates are
so grey, wrinkled, and bald that they don't
recognize you.
--Bennett Cerf (1898—1971)
American author, humorist, and publisher.

Considering the alternative, it's not too bad at all.
--Maurice Chevalier (1888—1972)
French singer and actor.
In Michael Freedland _Maurice Chevalier_ [1981].

-

For my own part, I had rather be old only a short
time than be old before I really am so.
--Marcus Tullius Cicero (106—43 BC)
Roman orator and statesman.


As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man
in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has
something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be
old in body, but can never be so in mind.
--Marcus Tullius Cicero (106—43 BC)
Roman orator and statesman.
In Jehiel Keeler Hoyt & Anna Lydia Ward
_The Cyclopζdia of Practical Quotations_, p. 3 [1882].

-

Oh, to be seventy again!
--Georges Clemenceau (1841—1929)
French statesman.
On seeing a pretty girl on his eightieth birthday.
In James Agate diary [19 April 1938] - also attributed to
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr..

Some lives, like evening primroses, blossom
most beautifully in the evening of life.
--C.E. Cowman

^

Walter [Cronkite]'s mother, Helen, died in 1993 at the age of 101.
Well into her '90s, Mrs. Cronkite was said to have dated
like a schoolgirl and danced her way to happiness. Once,
Walter called to ask how she was, and she replied,
"Oh, I had the best time dancing last night. But I had
to keep slapping my date."

Dumb struck, Walter asked, "Was he getting fresh?"

"Oh, no," Helen Cronkite said, "he's old. He kept
passing out; I had to keep reviving him."

^

I am at the age where my back goes out
a lot more than I do.
--Phyllis Diller (1917— )
American comedian.

Youth is a blunder; manhood, a struggle;
old age, a regret.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804—1881)
British Tory statesman, novelist, and
Prime Minister [1868, 1874—1880].
_Coningsby: Or, The New Generation_ [1844]

No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one Autumnal face.
--John Donne (1572—1631)
English poet and dean of St. Paul's [1621—1631].

Within I do not find wrinkles and used heart,
but unspent youth.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.

There's a fascination frantic
In a ruin that's romantic;
Do you think you've sufficiently decayed?
--W. S. Gilbert (1836—1911)
English writer of comic and satirical verse.
_The Mikado_ [1885]

Age does not make us childish, as men tell,
It merely finds us children still at heart.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832)
German poet, novelist, and playwright.
_Faust_ [1808] pt. 1

Age, that lessens the enjoyment of life,
increases our desire of living.
--Oliver Goldsmith (1728—1774)
Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and dramatist.

How old would you be if you didn't know
how old you were?
--Ruth Gordon (1896—1985)
American actress.

It is better to be seventy years young
than forty years old!
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809—1894)
American physician, poet, and essayist.
Reply to invitation from Julia Ward Howe to her
seventieth birthday party [27 May 1889].

If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't
have anything to laugh at when you are old.
--Edgar Watson Howe (1854—1937)
American journalist and author.

No man is ever old enough to know better.
--Holbrook Jackson (1874—1948)
British journalist, writer, and publisher.

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've got no money for butter.
--Jenny Joseph (1932— )
British poet.
"Warning" [1974]

Old age was naturally more honored in times when people
could not know much more than what they had seen.
--Joseph Joubert (1754—1824)
French philosopher.

-

Time's chariot-wheels make their carriage-road in the fairest face.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.


Good advice is something a man gives when
he is too old to set a bad example.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.

-

The damps of autumn sink into the leaves and prepare them
for the necessity of their fall; and thus insensibly are we, as
years close around us, detached from our tenacity of life by
the gentle pressure of recorded sorrow.
--Walter Savage Landor (1775—1864)
English poet.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?
--John Lennon (1940—
1980)
English pop singer and songwriter
& Paul McCartney (1942— )
English pop singer and songwriter,
"When I'm Sixty Four" [1967 song]

-

Whatever poet, orator, or sage
May say of it, old age is still old age.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_Morituri Salutamus_ [1875], l. 264


For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_Morituri Salutamus_ [1875], l. 281


And the bright faces of my young companions
Are wrinkled like my own, or are no more.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_The Spanish Student_ [1843], act III, sc. 3

-

Spring is here and so am I,
But at my age I wonder why
If nature can be born anew
Why can't I be recycled too?
--Les Lutz

-

From the earliest times, the old have rubbed it into
the young that they are wiser than they, and before
the young have discoverd what nonsense this was
they were old too, and it profited them to carry on
the imposture.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.
"Cakes and Ale" [1930]


The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age
as well as youth and maturity. The beauty of the morning
and the radiance of noon are good, but it would be a very
silly person who drew the curtains and turned on the light
in order to shut out the tranquillity of the evening. Old age
has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than
the pleasures of youth.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.
_The Summing Up_ [1938], ch. 73

-

I woke up this morning and I was still
alive, so I am pretty cheerful.
{on being 79}
--Spike [Terence Alan] Milligan (1918—2002)
Novelist, poet, and comedian.
In "Irish Times" [8 November 1997].

The unending problem of growing old was not
how he changed, but how things did.
--Toni Morrison (Chloe Anthony Woffard)
(1931— )
African-American author.
_Tar Baby_ [1981]

Like childhood, old age is irresponsible, reckless,
and foolhardy. Children & old people have everything
to gain and nothing much to lose. It's middle-age
which is cursed by the desperate need to cling to
some finger-hold halfway up the mountain, to conform,
not to cause trouble, to behave well.
--John Mortimer (1923— )
English barrister and author.
_Murderers & Other Friends_

What makes old age so sad is, not that our
joys, but that our hopes cease.
--Jean Paul Richter (1763—1825)
German novelist.

A man must have grown old and lived long
in order to see how short life is.
--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860)
German philosopher.
_Parerga and Paralipomena_ [1861]

Just remember, once you're over the
hill you begin to pick up speed.
--attributed to Charles Schulz (1922—2000)
American cartoonist.

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_As You Like It_ [1599]

Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the old man."
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems
Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the old man.
--Shel Silverstein (1930—1999)
Ameican poet and songwriter.
"The Little Boy and the Old Man", _A Light in the Attic_

The denunciation of the young is a necessary
part of the hygiene of older people, and
greatly assists the circulation of their
blood.
--Logan Pearsall Smith (1865—1946)
American-born man of letters.

That sign of old age, extolling the past
at the expense of the present.
--Sydney Smith (1771—1845)
English clergyman and essayist,
in 1802 cofounded "The Edinburgh Review."
_Lady Holland's Memoir_ [1855], vol. I, ch. 11

One must wait until evening to see
how splendid the day has been.
--Sophocles (496?—406 B.C.)
Greek dramatist.

What a man knows at 50
which he didn't know at 20 is,
for the most part, incommunicable.
--Adlai E. Stevenson (1900—1965)
American Democratic politician.

When an old gentlemen waggles his head and says:
"Ah, so I thought when I was your age," it is not thought
an answer at all, if the young man retorts: "My venerable
sir, so I shall most probably think when I am yours."
And yet the one is as good as the other.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850—1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and novelist.
_Virginibus Puerisque_ [1881] "Crabbed Age and Youth"

Every man desires to live long; but no man
would be old.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.
_Thoughts on Various Subjects_ [1727 ed.]

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
--Dylan Thomas (1914—1953)
Welsh poet.
_Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night_ [1952]

None are so old as those who have
outlived their enthusiasm.
--Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862)
American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher.

Hope I die before I get old.
--Pete Townshend (1945— )
British rock musician and songwriter.
"My Generation" [1965 song]

Old age is the most unexpected of all
things that happen to a man.
--Leon Trotsky (1879—1940)
Russian revolutionary.
_Diary in Exile_ [1935, first pub 1958]

There is still vitality under the winter snow, even
though to the casual eye it seems to be dead.
--Agnes Sligh Turnbull (1888—1982)
American novelist.
_The Rolling Years_ (1936)

You end up as you deserve. In old age you must
put up with the face, the friends, the health, and
the children you have earned.
--Fay Weldon (1931— )
British novelist.
In Randy Voorhees
_Old Age Is Always 15 Years Older Than I Am_, p. 87 [2001].

A little more tired at close of day,
A little less anxious to have our way;
A little less ready to scold and blame;
A little more care of a brother's name;
And so we are nearing our journey's end,
Where time and eternity meet and blend.
--Rollin J. Wells (1848—1923)
American lawyer and poet.
"Growing Old"

So here I sit in the early candle-light of old
age -- I and my book -- casting backward
glances over our travel'd road.
--Walt Whitman (1819—1892)
American poet.
"November Boughs_ [1888]

There's one advantage to being 102. No peer pressure.
--Dennis Wolfberg

When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
--William Butler Yeats (1865—1939)
Irish poet and dramatist who received the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.
"When You Are Old" [1893] st. 1

-

Don't let anyone tell you you're getting old.
Squash their toes with your rocker.
--anon.

I don't know how I got over the hill
without getting to the top.
--anon.

Some people try to turn back their odometers.
Not me.
I want people to know why I look like this.
I have traveled a long way.
And some of the roads were not paved.
--anon.

I've sure gotten old. I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement,
new knees. Fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't
hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications
that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with
dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore.
Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank
God, I still have my driver's license.
--anon.

--

Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to
the very elderly widow and asked, "How old was your husband?"
"Ninety-eight," she replied. "Two years older than me."
"So you're ninety-six," the undertaker commented.
She responded, "Hardly worth going home, is it?"

-----

nonagenarian [non-uh-juh-NAIR-ee-uhn] noun:
A ninety year old person; someone
whose age is in the nineties.


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