Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

A young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to be; and an old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really be so or not.

It is not hoary hairs that bring wisdom; some have an old head on young shoulders.

Wise men, like wine, are best when old; pretty women, like bread, are best when young.

Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.

She was not too young to be wise, but she was too young to know that wisdom shouldn't be spoken aloud when you are happy.

Passion is a young man's game. Young people can be passionate. Older people gotta be more wise. I mean, you're around awhile, you leave certain things to the young. Don't try to act like you're young. You could really hurt yourself.

It would be a good thing if young people were wise and old people were strong, but God has arranged things better.

Passion is a young man's game. Young people can be passionate. Older people gotta be more wise.

When you're 20, you think you know a lot more than you do.

The age doesn't really matter to me as it seems to matter to other people. A lot of people think that youth or age is the total sum of your knowledge about anything, and it's absolutely untrue. I think I might have even known more five years ago than I do now.

A man is sane morally at thirty, rich mentally at forty, wise spiritually at fifty-or never!

There was great difference in persons; and discretion did not always accompany years, nor was youth always without it.

People say, "Age is just a number." A lot of times it's not just a number. It's actually a real and true sign of someone's maturity. But in this case, she's fantastic.

Years do not make sages; they only make old men.

Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics.

As you are old and reverend, you should be wise.

I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger. I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was stronger

Old fools are greater fools than young ones.

Folly pursues us at all periods of our lives. If someone seems wise it is only because his follies are proportionate to his age and fortune.

Old age, especially an honored old age, has so great authority, that this is of more value than all the pleasures of youth.

It was so rare to find someone who was both so young and so wise, both so fresh and so jaded.

There is a slow-growing beauty which only comes to perfection in old age.... I have seen sweeter smiles on a lip of seventy than I ever saw on a lip of seventeen. There is the beauty of youth, and there is also the beauty of holiness—a beauty much more seldom met; and more frequently found in the arm-chair by the fire, with grandchildren around its knee, than in the ball-room or the promenade.

Some folks as they grow older grow wise but most folks simply grow stubborner.

A man of over thirty might be held to be at the height of his powers, but not necessarily of his wisdom.

When I was younger, I was actually looking forward to getting older, to have more insight, more understanding.