Among the worst things about growing old is the loss of those irreplaceable friends who added richness and depth to your life.
— Pat ConroyTHE FOUR HEAVENLY FOUNTAINSLaugh, I tell youAnd you will turn backThe hands of time.Smile, I tell youAnd you will reflectThe face of the divine.Sing, I tell youAnd all the angels will sing with you!Cry, I tell youAnd the reflections found in your pool of tears -Will remind you of the lessons of today and yesterdayTo guide you through the fears of tomorrow.
— Suzy KassemAs if a great creature had grown old without being able to express its feelings. Not that it didn't know how to express them, but rather it didn't know what to express.
— Haruki MurakamiThe Babies we were are buried, and their shadows are plodding on.
— Emily DickinsonMy heart is torn in tiny pieces scattered throughout the years. I exist in several places because you carry those pieces with you, wherever you go, whoever you choose to be, I’ll be beside you in one form or another.
— Moryah DeMottTime stops when you are in love, even as you age.
— Matshona DhliwayoI love the optimism on the shores of youth, where time hasn't yet eroded faith.
— Amy NeftzgerAnd we were in our thirties. Well into the Age of Boredom, when nothing is new. Now, I’m not being self-pitying; it’s simply true. Newness, or whatever you want to call it, becomes a very scarce commodity after thirty. I think that’s unfair. If I were in charge of the human life span, I’d make sure to budget newness much more selectively, to ration it out. As it is now, it’s almost used up in the first three years of life. By then you’ve seen for the first time, tasted for the first time, held something for the first time. Learned to walk, talk, go to the bathroom. What have you got to look forward to that can compare with that? Sure, there’s school. Making friends. Falling in love. Learning to drive. Sex. Learning to trade. That has to carry you for the next twenty-five years. But after that? What’s the new excitement? Mastering your home computer? Figuring out how to work CompuServe? “Now, if it were up to me, I’d parcel out. So that, say, at thirty-five we just learned how to go on the potty. Imagine the feeling of accomplishment! They’d have office parties. 'Did you hear? The vice president in charge of overseas development just went a whole week without his diaper. We’re buying him a gift.' It’d be beautiful.
— Phoef SuttonLife is so magnificent! How can I grow old?
— Debasish MridhaWe live to work.Man was made to move.Without work we shall grow old quickly.
— Lailah Gifty Akita