OLD AGE
RELATED INDEX TOPICS: Death, Grandparents.
1. You tell me I am getting old;
I tell you that's not so;
The "house" I live in is worn out--
And that, of course, I know,
It's been in use a long, long while,
It's weathered many a gale;
I'm really not surprised you think
It's getting somewhat frail.
The color's changing on the roof,
The windows getting dim,
The walls a bit transparent,
And looking rather thin.
The foundation's not so steady
As once it used to be;
My "house" is getting shaky,
But my "house" isn't me!
My few short years can't make me old--
I feel I'm in my youth:
Eternity lies just ahead,
A life of joy and truth,
I'm going to live forever, There;
Life will go on--it's grand!
You tell me I am getting old?
You just don't understand!
The dweller in my little "house"
Is young and bright and gay--
Just starting on a life to last
Throughout eternal day.
You only see the outside,
which is all that most folks see.
You tell me I am getting old?
You've mixed my "house" with me!
--Dora Johnson
2. "Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair... these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.
"Whatever your years, there is in every being's heart the love of wonder, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing, childlike appetite for 'what next,' and the joy and the game of life.
"You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair."
--Douglas MacArthur
3. Actor George Burns has been one of those named in a sometimes surprising list of the United States' "sexiest men" published in Playgirl Magazine. "We're looking for men who are accomplished & self-confident without being egotistical," Executive Editor Dianne Grosskopf explained. The magazine said Burns, at 87, the oldest man on the list, still "burns the candles at both ends" & is "still going strong & sexier than most men half his age."
4. They can't call you an old dog as long as you are learning new tricks.
5. Are you getting along in years and haven't yet made a name for yourself? Here are some words of comfort from some research people who looked into the histories of about 400 famous men, each one the most outstanding statesman, painter, warrior, poet or writer of his time. Of the group's greatest achievements, 35 per cent came when the men were between 60 and 70; 23 per cent when they were between 70 and 80; and 8 per cent when they were more than 80. In other words, 66 per cent of the world's greatest work has been done by men past 60. Feel better?
6. On his 85th birthday. John Wesley wrote in his diary, and we paraphrase:
"I find some decay in my memory with regard to names and things lately past, but not at all with what I had read 20, 40, or 60 years ago. Nor do I feel any weariness, either in travelling or preaching. To what cause can I impute this? First, to the power of God, fitting me to the work to which I am called; and next, to the prayers of His children. Then, may not I also impute it to these inferior means:
1) My constant exercise and change of air;
2) My never having lost a night's sleep, sick or well, on land or at sea.
3) My having slept at command, whether day or night;
4) My having risen constantly at 4:00 a.m. for about 60 years;
5) My constant preaching at 5:00 a.m. for above 50 years; and
6) My having so little pain, sorrow, or anxious care in life."
7. Age is a quality of mind--
If you have left your dreams behind,
If hope is lost,
If you no longer look ahead,
If your ambitions' fires are dead--
Then you are old.
But if from life you take the best
And if in life you keep the jest,
If love you hold--
No matter how the years go by,
No matter how the birthdays fly,
You are not old!
8. Like the photographer told me when I went back to pick up my pictures once when I was only 30. I looked at my picture & I said, "Boy, I'm getting older, aren't I?"
He said, "Well, you could've died a lot younger!" So that's one thing to be thankful for anyhow!
--Dad
9. A 14-year-old Kenyan girl has married the man of her dreams--Mr.Mohamed Aloo (100)--declaring that "older men really know how to treat a girl"!
10. You are young at any age if you are planning for tomorrow.
11. Gone they tell me is youth,
Gone is the strength of my life,
Nothing remains but decline,
Nothing but age and decay.
Not so, I'm God's little child,
Only beginning to live;
Coming the years of my prime,
Coming the strength of my life,
Coming the vision of God,
Coming my bloom and my power.
12. In his extreme old age John Quincy Adams was slowly and feebly walking down a street in Boston. An old friend accosted him and shaking his trembling hand asked, "And how is John Quincy Adams today?"
"Thank you," said the ex-President, "John Quincy Adams is well, quite well, I thank you. But the house in which he lives at present is becoming quite dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundations. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out. Its walls are much shattered, and it trembles with every wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon. But he himself is quite well, quite well."
13. If you want to be an old man long before your time,
Never fool with poetry, never make a rhyme.
Never play with children, never skip the rope,
Never have a good time blowing bubble soap.
Never go a fishing, never pass the ball,
Never ramble in the woods in summer or in fall.
Never lift your eyes to God, keep 'em looking down,
Never wear a pleasant smile, always wear a frown.
Never take your time to eat, always overstuff,
Never have the sense to know when you've had enough.
--Alex Bennie
14. Old age is the time when men pay more attention to their food than they do to the waitresses.
15. The life insurance office was taken aback by the old man of 97 years, who wished to take out a policy. His application was turned down. Whereupon the old gentleman said with annoyance, "You folks are making a big mistake. If you look over your statistics you'll find that mighty few men die after they're 97."
16. Much more important than adding years to your life, is to add life to your years.
17. Some four hundred names of the most noted men in all times, from all lines of activity, were chosen. There were statesman, painters, warriors, poets, and writers of fiction history, and other prose works. Opposite to the name of each man was indicated, his greatest work or achievement. This list was then submitted to critics, to learn their opinion of the greatest work of each man submitted. The names of their greatest works were accepted, or altered, until the list was one that could be finally accepted. After this was done the date at which the work was produced was placed after the name, and so the age was ascertained at which the individual was at his best. The list was then arranged according to decades.
It was found that the decade of years between sixty and seventy contained thirty-five per cent of the world's greatest achievements. Between the age of seventy and eighty, twenty-three per cent of the achievements fell; and in the years after the eightieth, eight per cent.
In other words, sixty-six per cent of the great things of the world have been accomplished by men who had passed their sixtieth year, the greatest percentage, thirty-five, being in the seventh decade.
The figures for the other periods of life are interesting. Between the fiftieth and sixtieth years are found twenty-five per cent, between forty and fifty ten per cent. These, all totalled together, leave the almost negligible quantity of one per cent to be attributed to the period below the age of forty.
Two great classes of work fall below the forty year limit. These are the deeds which require the extreme of physical power and vim, as the conquests of Alexander the Great; and the beautiful expression of the lyric poetry, which is typified by the nervous, super-sensitive temperament of such men as Shelley and Keats.
18. Age is a matter of mind. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
19. Patient: "Doctor, my right foot is killing me."
Doctor: "Oh I imagine it's just old age."
Patient: "Old age? But Doctor, my left foot is just as old. How come it doesn't hurt?"
20. For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
--Henry W. Longfellow
21. No wise man ever wished to be younger.--Jonathan Swift
22. Hardening of the heart ages people more quickly than hardening of the arteries.
23. To keep young, stay around young people. To get old, try to keep up with them.
24. Depending on how a man lives, he may die old at forty or young at eighty.
25. Old age can't seem to catch up with folks who have more things to do than they can possibly finish.