Wednesday 11 February 2015

The joy of old age*


While Kondo-ing I found one of those little books,
so easy to give and briefly, quite amusing to receive at Christmas
but otherwise destined to languish in the loo or guest room.

It was a compilation of quotes under the title
Old is the New Young.

Some of them raised a wry smile
but not enough of a spark of joy to merit keeping.
Do any of these resonate?

Inside every older person is a younger person
wondering what the hell happened.

Cora Harvey Armstrong

(I certainly wonder what the hell 
happened between 50 and 60.)

You can't turn back the clock
but you can wind it up again.

Bonnie Prudden
I looked her up. She was a force to be reckoned with.
Use it or lose it is what I suppose she is saying.
Well I'm aching from today's Pilates class.


When they tell me I'm too old to do something,
I attempt it immediately.

Pablo Picasso

The key to successful ageing is
to pay as little attention to it as possible.

Judith Regan

alternatively

I don't plan to grow old gracefully. 
I plan to have facelifts until my ears meet.

Rita Rudner

The older I get, the older old is.

Tom Baker

To me, old age is always 15 years
older than I am.

Bernard Baruch

Forty is the old age of youth;
fifty the youth of old age.

Victor Hugo.

I do wish I could tell you my age but
it's impossible.
It keeps changing all the time.

Greer Garson

I refuse to admit that I am more than 52,
even if that makes my children illegitimate.

Nancy Astor

Eventually you will reach a point
when you stop lying about your age
and start bragging about it.

Will Rogers

All would live long,
but none would be old.

Benjamin Franklin

Old age aint no place for sissies.

Bette Davis

Interviewer:
To what do you attribute your advanced age?

Sir Malcolm Sargent:
Well, I suppose I must attribute it 
to the fact that I have not died.

Exercise daily. Eat wisely.
Die Anyway.

Anonymous

Seize the moment.
Remember all those women on the Titanic who
waved off the dessert cart.

Erma Bombeck

My only regret in life is
that I didn't drink more champagne.

John Maynard Keynes



* See also Oliver Sacks here




10 comments:

  1. One or two familiar ones here but all amusing or true... I'll be forty this year. Not old really but still, it's a big one. 'The old age of youth ' just about sums it up.

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  2. Yeah, I'd get rid of the book. But quite like what Tom Baker has to say.

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  3. Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention.

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  4. I'm with Erma, you're only here for awhile.

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  5. Lucille, it was fun to read the quotes. There's some wisdom mixed in with the fun.

    xo

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  6. My favourite :
    Exercise daily . Eat wisely . Die anyway .
    Succinct and so true .

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  7. I don't feel I will ever grow old, just as, every autumn, I sense that this is the year when winter will not come.

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  8. Yes, we all have to go at some point, just enjoy the bit beforehand!

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  9. Old age is surely not so bad, when you remember what the alternative is! Easy to say at the 'right' end of my fifties I suppose, but no less true.

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