Growing Old: Quotations ☼

Here are some 40 quotations on old age, growing old, and maturity, and new ones like "Becoming old suggests one takes far less pleasure in getting older." - T. Kinnes

1. Becoming old suggests not caring for all and wanting to sleep more and better

As we get older, we tend to like some things better than others. Some find artistic outlets to be fun. There is much all right to go for other than secure and comfortable travels.

After a man passes sixty, his mischief is mainly in his head. - Edgar Watson Howe

Few people know how to be old. - de la Rochefoucauld

Birthdays will be good for you; the more you have, the longer you live.

He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden. - Plato, The Republic

Not a few get wise too late.

The secret of staying young at heart as you get old is to live honestly, eat enough food and never give up all.

Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old. - Washington Irving

Being slow to believe is fine for maturing. ◇

Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity. - Source unknown

Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternatives. - Maurice Chevalier, attributed

On the bright side of life you will probably save a lot on shampoo when getting old and bald.

Sure I'm for helping the elderly. I'm going to be old myself some day. - Lillian Carter in her 80s

2. One takes far less pleasure in reading books as one matures

Middle age is like maturing to be able to stand old age.

One of the advantages of aging is losing obsession about work and being able to spend some more time with your family. - Cf. Clint Eastwood

Some things can be achieved by reflection, force of character, and judgement; in these qualities old age is usually not only not poorer, but is even richer. - Marcus Tullius Cicero, mod.

Maturity is knowing when to be immature. - Randall Hall ◇

3. Retirement from life is followed by some judgement of life

When old, retire from work, but not from life. - Cf. M.K. Soni

The trick is growing up without growing old. - Casey Stengel

It can be sad to grow old but nice to ripen. - With Brigitte Bardot

People in a hurry may not think well or mature well. - Cf. Eric Hoffer

Retire in time to experience some more of what life has to offer, including cookery.✪ 

Old age ain't no place for sissies. - Bette Davis

Growth or maturity should be an ever-present process. - With John Dewey

Man matures through work which inspires him to difficult good. - Pope John Paul II

Maturity consists in no longer being taken in by oneself. - Kajetan Von Schlaggenberg

At 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30 the wit; at 40 the judgment - Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanac

As a man grows older it is harder and harder to frighten him. - Jean Paul Richter ◇

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity - Thomas Henry Huxley

Twenty-four years running wild; twenty-four years a mature man - after that, researching, perhaps

First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down. - Leo Rosenberg

Great potential for growth and self-realisation exists in the second half of life too. - Cf. Carl Jung

Men fail to live life worthily, but think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure. - With Henry David Thoreau

Time stands still for a woman of thirty. - With Robert Frost

Everyone is the age of their heart. - Guatemalan proverb ◇

None so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm. - Henry David Thoreau

Old places and old persons in their turn, when spirit dwells in them, have an intrinsic vitality . . . from long perspectives and broad foundations. - George Santayana

People ask me what I'd most appreciate getting for my eighty-seventh birthday. I tell them, a paternity suit. - George Burns

The assumption that aging means decline and poor health is probably not good at all.

There are compensations for growing older. . . . It is a great relief to reach this stage of wisdom. - Cornelius Otis Skinner

We've put more effort into helping folks reach old age than into helping them enjoy it. - Frank Clark

You're old enough when you can read about yourself in books.

Middle age is when a guy keeps turning off lights for economical rather than romantic reasons. - Eli Cass ◇

People like you and I . . . never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born. - Albert Einstein in a letter to Otto Juliusburger

To live without great fear could be a good sign of maturity.

So

Becoming old suggests not caring for all and wanting to sleep more, taking less pleasure in reading books.

Retirement from life is followed by some judgement of life. It easily happens. And getting old suggests one takes far less pleasure in getting older -