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As a man grows older he values the voice of experience more,
the voice of prophecy less. He finds more of life's wealth in the
common pleasures home, health, children. He thinks more about the
worth of men, and less about their wealth. He begins to
appreciate his own father more. He boasts less and boosts more.
He hurries less, and usually makes more progress. He esteems the
friendship of God more and more.
M-K-T- Employees magazine.
To know how to grow old is the masterwork of wisdom, and one
of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.
Amiel Journal
The three topics that loom largest in American conversation
are age, weight and hair; and of the three, the matter of age,
which amounts almost to monomania, takes worried precedence. In
no other country in the world does the mirror occupy so concerned
a place in the individual consciousness.
George Jean Nathan; New York Journal-American
Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of
life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand,
who saith: ``A whole I planned, youth shows but half: trust God;
see all, nor be afraid.''
Robert Browning
We waste time, we kill time, and we long for it to pass. Then
we bemoan getting old.
William Feather; Enos Magazine
When Robert E. Sherwood's mother was 94 she said, ``It feels
nice to reach 94 except for seeing your children becoming
depressingly middleaged.``
Leonard Lyons; Best Years
Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege.
Cominco Magazine
Grandpa drooped so badly we finally called a doctor, and they
were closeted for an hour. ``No medicine,'' the doctor told me on
leaving. ``All he needed was some friendly conversation. I guess
you have been pretty busy of late, haven't you?''
Better Homes & Gardens
Those who have a philosophy of life are not troubled with age.
Our last days should be the best days. The evening praises the
day; the last scene commands the act; and the music reserves its
sweetest strains for the end.
The Quotable Fulton J. Sheen; (Droke House)
Mrs. Edwin Frost says that often-times when a Chinese gives
directions to the next town, he adjusts his information to the
recipient. If the traveler looks old he may be told ``20 miles or
so.'' But if he is young and strong, it may be ``only about three
miles.'' The distance is determined by the effort required.
Nashua Cavalier
A man or woman is not old until regrets take the place of
dreams.
John Wadham; Lion
Alonso of Aragon was wont to say in commendation of age, that
age appears to be best in four things, old wood best to burn, old
wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
Francis Bacon; Apothegms
You are getting along in years when it takes you twice as long
to rest and only half as long to get tired.
Philnews
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 the
journey's end, where time and eternity meet and blend.
Rollen J Wells; Growing Old
A witty Viennese once said: "A man is young as long as a
woman can make him either happy or unhappy. He is middle aged, if
a woman can make him only happy. He becomes old, if a woman can
make him neither happy nor unhappy.''
American Freeman
As we grow older we find that the best time for a cold plunge
is some other.
Banking
It's only natural for older people to be quiet. They have a
lot more to be quiet about.
Platteville (Wis.) Journal
We do not cease playing because we are old; we grow old
because we cease playing.
Joseph Lee; Recreation
How we age depends on each individual. Some people will get
older, other will grow older. Those who get older will in all
likelihood live a drab and monotonous number of years. Those who
grow older will do so aggressively and creatively.
Ben L. Grossman; Today's Health
The oldster is placed on many a spot that dares him show how
dead he is not.
Strickland Gillilan; Rotarian
A graceful and honorable old age is the childhood of
immortality.
Pindar
I can still recall the thrill of pride I felt when a Pullman
porter first called me ``doctor'' and when another raised me up
to ``judge,'' and then the terrible shock it was when a taxi man
swung open his door and said: ``Step right in, dad!''
L.& N. Magazine
If wrinkles must be written upon our brow, let them not be
written upon our heart. The spirit should not grow old.
James A. Garfield
No man feels he's really in middle age as long as he knows his
teacher in the first grade of school is still living, even though
she's 95 years old.
Merrill Chilcote; Maryville (Missouri) Tribune
The worst thing about getting old is to have to listen to lot
of advice from one's children.
Lake Mills (Iowa) Graphic
Women, as a rule, find adjustment more difficult than do men.
When they pass the age of fifty, their children are grown and
independent, their household responsibilities are greatly
lessened, and time may hang heavily on their hands,. This
situation merely highlights the fact that all of us should in
early life broaden our interests, and find satisfactory forms of
recreation and diversion to fill the gaps which inevitably come
in later life.
Ernest Boas, M.D.; Add Years to Your Life (McBride Co)
While the physiologist believes old age begins at 26, which is
when physical deterioration sets in, creative imagination, the
real life surge of humanity, only reaches complete development in
the forties. Artists do their best work at 50, doctors at 54,
jurists at 57.
Murray Banks; Eleven Ways to Get More Out of Life
(Prentice-Hall).
Dr. C. Ward Crampton says you are as old as the sum of these 7
ages: number of years lived (chronological); condition of
tissues(anatomical); functional ability of the organs
(physiological); mental capacity (psychological); condition of
the body as a result of diseases (pathological); normal life
expectancy (statistical); and average age of ancestors
(hereditary).
National Parent-Teacher
A carnival man recently disclosed a few of the signposts that
enable him to estimate a woman's age with reasonable accuracy: At
20, horizontal lines begin to appear on her neck. At 25,
criss-cross lines on her hands begin to deepen. After 30, waist
and hips start to thicken. At 35, come the tell-tale wrinkles
about the eyes. At 40, folds beneath the eyes put in their
appearance. After 50, the mouth grows grim.
Omaha World Herald
Forty is the old age of youth; 50 is the youth of old age.
Wooden Barrel
Though summer goes, remember the harvest fields; The
color-work of autumn and its yields.
Frederick Herbert Adler; To One Who Fears Old Age
A few people die young at 95 or 100. But a larger number
become senile wrecks at 21. The growing cult of prolonging life,
no matter how parasitic or obstructionist, is terrifying. Too
many people are boasting about ``hitting 70'' or ``hitting 80''
who never hit anything else in their life, except perhaps a
golfball or a bottle.
Simeon Stylites; Christian Century
In the old days, a man's age was measured by his years; today,
by the intensity of his history.
W.P. Tuttle; Canadian Business
A person's life is not measured by his number of years on
earth, but by his heart beats for others.
Rev. A. W. Traub; Kountze Memorial Church Omaha Neb.,
Christian Advocate
Some people succeed in preserving a youthful appearance, but
they show their age in their opinions.
We do not count a man's years, until he has nothing else to
count.
Ralph Waldo Emerson; Society and Solitude: Old Age
Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and
health. Some men are born old and some never grow old.
Tryon Edwards
To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and
hopeful than to be forty years old.
Oliver Wendell Homes
If you take all the experience and judgment of men over fifty
out of the world, there wouldn't be enough left to run it.
Henry Ford
Whenever I am tempted to criticize the younger generation I
think of a venerable old crank who at 90 wasn't satisfied to
condemn wild youth; he said the middle-aged weren't any good any
more and that people of 70 were making fools of themselves in a
way that wouldn't have been dreamed of when he was that age.
R. L. Duffus; Nation's Business
The ages of life: You are; You will be; You could be; You can
be; You are; You could have been; You were.
Le Digeste Francais; Montreal Canada
When we grow old time replaces those who love us by those whom
we love.
Revue de la Pensee Francaise; Paris (Droke House Translation)
When youth is spent, a penny at a fair, The old men tell of
the bargains there. There was this and that for a price and a
wage. But when they came away they had all bought age.
Louise Driscoll; Bargain
It's not how old you are but how you are old.
Marte Dressler
Chuter Ede said once in the British House of Commons: ``I made
up my mind, as a magistrate of a Juvenile Court, that when I
reached the age of 60 I would retire. I notified my colleagues
immediately after my 60th birthday, and my resignation was
received with great indignation. I found I was the third youngest
member of the Court!''
Daily Herald, London
Old age should be said to begin ``when a person is no longer
able to maintain some stated proportion of the achievements of
the average adult in his culture.''
Ruth S. Cavan; Personal Adjustment in Old Age (Science
Research Associates)
Why should we worry about getting old?'' asks Grandpa. ``When
we stop getting older, we're dead.''
Burton Hillis; Better Homes & Gardens
Living gets much easier and more simplified when you are
older. You learn not to mind what people say. You fret less over
trifles. You have more time for things of the mind, for
contemplation. You have much more leisure. You learn not to cross
your bridges until you get to them, because at forty you know
that you have, in the past, feared so many bridges that you never
had to cross. You realize that you have worried over so many
things that never happened.
G.B. Stern
A worker's age ought not to be measured by years, but by his
health and alertness and efficiency. Many a man at 65 can work
harder and better than a man of 40. It's not age that counts,
it's the man.
Maurice J. Tobin; Secretary of Labor in Truman Administration
The one place the U.S. does not retire men at 65 is the place
it ought to begin: the U.S. Senate.
Norman Thomas Socialist leader
A retired man was complaining to the elder who sat on the
bench across the sidewalk. ``It's a miserable life growing old
alone.'' ``Did your wife recently die?'' the other man asked
sympathetically. ``Oh, she's still living. It's just that she
hasn't celebrated a birthday in 13 years.''
James C Hafley; The Sourcebook of Humor ( Zondervan
Publishing House)
The old, outmoded doctor trudging along with his little black bag the man who has given fifty years of service to his patients deserves well of them. Still, I do not envy him. I'd rather give twenty-five to thirty-five years of my life to my profession years when I can make the fullest use of my faculties and step aside to make way for a younger man.
Peter J. Steincrohn M.D.; The Doctor Looks at Life (Greystone Press)
An inquiring reporter was getting a story from a woman who was
celebrating her 100th birthday. ``How did you do it?'' he asked.
``Well,'' she cackled, ``I never rocked any of our 12 children to
sleep. I never got up with them nights. I never washed dishes nor
cleaned the house. My dear Harry did that. May his soul rest in
peace; he died at 42.''
James C. Hafley; The Sourcebook of Humor (Zondervan
Publishing House)
The sort of broad education needed for interest-filled
retirement results from living and moving about with eyes and
ears open and mouth shut except for those two words which produce
all knowledge, ``why'' and ``what''.
George H. Preston; Should I Retire? (Rinehart)
An elderly man once consulted me, giving his age as 80 years
and his occupation as salesman in a department store. When I
asked how he managed to hold his job at that age, he replied:
``Down at the store they think I am only 58.''
Frederic D. Zeman; Mental Hygiene
I have often thought what a melancholy world this would be
without children, and what an inhuman world without the aged.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Next to being young and pretty, the best bet is to be old and
rich.
William Feather; Enos Magazine
If you tell a girl you've run out of gas and she believes you,
it's a sign you're getting old.
Franklin P. Jones; Brushware
Men are like wines, age souring the bad and bettering the
good.
Times of Brazil, Sao Paulo
He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort,
should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and
remember when he is old that he has once been young.
Joseph Addison
A woman who has been 26 for the past 8 years accuses a car
dealer of being deceitful just because he set a speedometer back.
Automotive Dealer News
When the three women entered the crowded street car a man
arose and said: ``I'll give my seat to the oldest woman.'' He was
able to sit down again, for not one took advantage of his offer.
Le Digest Francais; Montreal ( Droke House translation)
If I wish to know everything, I go to a young man, but if I
desire to know one thing, I seek an older man.
John a Shedd; Woman's Home Companion
All the world's a mass of folly, Youth is gay, age melancholy:
Youth is spending, age is thrifty, Mad at twenty, cold at fifty;
Man is nought but folly's slave, From the cradle to the grave.
W. H. Ireland; Of the Folly of All the World
Young people are fools in their heads and old people are fools
in their hearts, and they can only look at each other and pass by
in wonder.
James Stephens; The Crock of Gold (Macmillan)
As one grows older and the longing for what one knew in youth
grows stronger, one finds oneself in a desert of change; one has
left the world one knew long before death is ready to call one to
another.
Arthur Bryant; Illustrated London News England
To keep young, associate with young people. To get old, try
keeping up with them.
Jack H. Lowe; Sidney (Neb) Telegraph
How do I know that my youth has been spent? Well, my get up
and go has now got up and went. But still I can grin, when I
think where it's been and the glorious fun and excitement it
meant.
Alexander Animator
Youth delights in wishful thinking. Middle age must find its
peculiar delight in thoughtful wishing.
Walter P. Pitkin; Rotarian
Youth is the pursuit of the unattainable and middle age the
realization of its unattainability.
J. F. G. E. Mathews; Evening Standard London
Lots of folks wouldn't look as old as they do if they didn't
act as young as they do.
Joe Digiovanni
Heaven gives our years of failing strength Indemnifying
fleetness; And those of youth a seeming length Proportioned to
their sweetness.
Thomas Campbell
Middle age is the time when you can't remember. And 17 is the
wonderful age when you weren't listening in the first place.
Hartford Courant
Some years ago, a methodical person in out office got up a
form for a new employees to fill out name, address, date of
birth, etc. One question: ``Date you will become 65.'' A
rosy-cheeked lad appeared in these halls recently and was
accepted for the responsible position of office boy, and turned
in his questionnaire, neatly filled out. It read, in part: ``Date
of birth, 5/30/35. Date become 65, 5/30/2000.'' You can't imagine
how it rocked the rest of us.
New Yorker
To find the age of a star, a Hollywood press agent takes the
age of her (or his) birth, subtracts it from itself, and burns
the paper the numbers were written on; then adds last week's fan
mail to the box office receipts from the star's last picture;
subtracts her salary, divides the remainder by the number of
press agents assigned to take care of her career, subtracts the
number of her marriages, adds 3 months for every child she has
had, knocks off 10 years just for gallantry. If the age is still
higher than the one the boss ordered, he works in slight
mathematical errors until the answer comes out right.
Glasgow (Scotland) Herald
Your age, Madam?'' asked the Judge. ``Thirty years,'' replied
the lady witness. ``You may have difficulty proving that,'' said
the Judge. Replied the witness, ``You will find it difficult to
prove the contrary. The church that had the record of my birth
burned down in 1930.''
National Safety News
They were sitting beside each other on the hard bench of the
railway station, one reading his newspaper and the other rubbing
his knees and emitting at frequent intervals and exhausted
``phew!'' ``What's wrong with you?'' the reader asked. ``Dunno.
Feel like I'm 60 years old this morning.'' ``That's too bad isn't
it? Age is certainly and annoying thing.'' ``No, it ain't,'' the
old one said cheerfully. ``Because the truth is, I'm 85!''
W.E. Golden; Tracks
An old man from a remote section of the country announced one
day that he was going to get married again. ``I've been a widower
long enough,'' he said. ``I've picked me out another wife - Lem
Hawkins' daughter.'' ``But she's only 18 years old,'' protested a
relative. ``Think of a man of your age - 93 - marrying a girl of
18!'' ``What's wrong with it?'' inquired the old man placidly.
``She's exactly the same age as my first wife when I married
her.''
Dan Bennett
The factory hand, about to retire after long service, was
receiving good wishes from his factory manager. ``No more early
rising! You'll be able to enjoy an extra hour or two in bed.''
``No I'm afraid not,'' was the reply. ``I'll still have to get up
about 5:30 to get breakfast for father and get him off to work.''
``Father'' is 88 years old!
Will's Works Great Britain
A sure sign you're getting older is when the kids come home
from school and tell you about their history subjects. You
realize that when you went to school, the same items were know as
Current Events
Blair (Neb) Pilot-Tribune
Life's taxi keeps on marking up the nickels, whether you are
driving anywhere or just sitting still.
Cominco Magazine
In Today's Health, Dr. Marc H. Hollender and Stanley
A. Frankel present a satisfying philosophy for retirement,
``You're Never Old When There's Something to Love For.'' Essence
of their creed: ``Retire people to something, rather
than from something.'' It is my belief that most men go
about killing themselves completely by living an unplanned life.
They work hard all their lives, and reach sixty, sixty-five, or
seventy - physical and mental derelicts. They wonder why they
were foolish enough to let life slip by without having taken at
least some of the advantages it had to offer.
Peter J. Steincrohn, M.D.; How to Stop Killing Yourself
(Wilfred Funk, Inc.)
Older people naturally tend to be more cautious and more
ingenious in the face of perils. They have a richer background.
Knowing more, they fear less.
Walter B. Pitkin
Never lose sight of the fact that old age needs so little, but
needs that little so much.
Margaret Willour; Nylic Review
The aged villager had been told by the doctor that the pains
he complained of in one of his legs was probably due to old age.
``Old age be danged!'' he spluttered. ``T'other leg, he's the
same age and he's all right.''
Countryman; England
The middle years can be wonderful years for fellowship and
growth if, through the years, we have learned to trust each other
and to lean on one another. Does it really matter if Adam is not
a business tycoon at fifty or fifty-five? One grateful wife
remarked, ``Jim isn't a howling success, but he is dependable and
loyal, and we manage nicely on what he earns.''
Harold Blake Walker; To Conquer Loneliness (Harper and Row)
When John Quincy Adams was 80 years of age, a friend met him
one day on a street in Boston. ``How is John Quincy Adams?'' he
asked gaily. The old man's eyes began to twinkle, and then he
said slowly: ``John Quincy Adams is very well, thank you, but the
house he lives in is sadly dilapidated. It is tottering on its
foundations. The walls are badly shattered and roof is worn. The
building trembles with every wind, and I think that John Quincy
Adams will have to move out before very long, but he himself is
very well.'' And with a wave of the hand the old man walked on.
Alice M. Lydall; Canadian War Cry
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