“Young men speak about the future because they have no past, and old men speak of the past because they have no future.”
“The good thing about being old is not being young.”
“At twenty life was like wrestling an octopus. Every moment mattered. At thirty it was a walk in the country. Most of the time your mind was somewhere else. By the time you got to seventy, it was probably like watching snooker on the telly.”
“You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I m sure I would have played his mother. That s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.”
“I m a century old, an impossible age, and my brain has no anchor in the present. Instead it drifts, nearly always to the same shore. Today, as most days, it is 1962. The year I discovered love.”
“The Scholars Bald heads forgetful of their sins, Old, learned, respectable bald heads Edit and annotate the lines That young men, tossing on their beds, Rhymed out in love’s despair To flatter beauty’s ignorant ear. They’ll cough in the ink to the world’s end; Wear out the carpet with their shoes Earning respect; have no strange friend; If they have sinned nobody knows. Lord, what would they say Should their Catullus walk that way?”
“No, time has silverted the dark sheen of her hair, and thickened her body, and lined the corners of her eyes and her lips. He saw in them the hints of the smile he loved, and knew, to be fair, that time had been no kinder to him. Or perhaps, it had been just as kind; for she did not look the part of a young girl, and she was not: she was stronger, wiser, and more just than the fear of youth allowed; she gave him the shelter that he needed, on the rare occasions that that need drove him. She trusted him, always; she looked up to him, still; he strove, in every way, to continue to live up to her expectation. She was the one person in his life he did not wish to disappoint. ”
“With mortal age comes the immense need for childish charms. Like a fine wine, sweetens with maturity.”
“William Shakespeare: You will never age for me, nor fade, nor die.”
“He walked into the bathroom, wincing at himself in the mirror, that always more tired older brother.”
“At thirty a man suspects himself a fool; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan; At fifty chides his infamous delay, Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve; In all the magnanimity of thought Resolves; and re-resolves; then dies the same.”
“Doesn t seem quite real. It s not meaningful. I can t quite imagine myself being 73. That s the age my father was! [Laughter.] How can I be his age? It s weird.”
“It s my birthday, by the way, and as of 2:05 this morning (the time of my birth in the middle of a snow storm on the Fort Dix army base in New Jersey) I m 52 years old. I decided to say that because there s such pressure in our culture for women...well, for everybody...to stay perpetually young. And that s never going to change if we (women especially) don t embrace, enjoy, and take pride in each and every age that we pass through. I m not young, I m half a century old, and grateful to have made it this far. And I have this to say to the young women coming on behind me: 52 feels pretty damn good!”
“A writer s age at the time of a work s composition is never irrelevant.”
“Life versus Death becomes, as Montaigne pointed out, Old Age versus Death. ”
“The faded glittering in his eyes is like a falling star on a dull autumn s day.”
“Old age isn t so bad when you consider the alternatives.”