Regrets are the natural property of grey hairs.

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

Prime time for men is, say, 35 to 45. Then they level off and fall off.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.

You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long.

Whoever doesn’t know it must learn and find by experience that ‚a quiet conscience makes one strong!‘

There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the fair sex.

It’s my old girl that advises. She has the head. But I never own to it before her. Discipline must be maintained.

Knowledge slowly builds up what Ignorance in an hour pulls down.

Our best thoughts come from others.

‚Unforgiven‘ is probably an example of a script that I liked right away but thought, ‚This is great, but I’d like to do this when I’m older.‘ So I stuck it in the drawer for ten years and then took it out.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

Sometimes the majority just means all the fools are on the same side.

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.

My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don’t think about it, I just have it.

I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

Do not rebuke mockers, or they will hate you; rebuke the wise, and they will love you.

Education is the best provision for old age.

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.

Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that’s how we’ve got to live.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge.

My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don’t need another plaque.

I guess I don’t so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old.

Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.

I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer’s disease where they slowly began to recover other people’s lost memories.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

The alchemists in their search for gold discovered many other things of greater value.

It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

And in real life endings aren’t always neat, whether they’re happy endings, or whether they’re sad endings.

The older I get, the better I understand that every day is a gift.

Loving someone liberates the lover as well as the beloved. And that kind of love comes with age.

The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.

I don’t write so much now. I’m getting on 33, pot belly and creeping dementia.

Every step of life shows much caution is required.

Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.

Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

No man is rich enough to buy back his past.

I’m considered wise, and sometimes I see myself as knowing. Most of the time, I see myself as wanting to know. And I see myself as a very interested person. I’ve never been bored in my life.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and to the young, it comes with bitterest agony because it takes them unawares. I have had experience enough to know what I say.

Listen to many, speak to a few.

My company survives because I’ve learned to respect the ideas of people younger than me and recognize when my wisdom is obsolete.

I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.

He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.

We are like boxers, one never knows how much longer one has.

The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you – black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight.

Friends accept you the way you are.

We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise.

Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

I’m not looking to exclude people, I’m looking to include them.