Jennifer Egan Quotes

I do try not to dwell on the past too much, because I have a tendency to do that, and as I've gotten older, I've gotten very good at distancing myself from shoulda, woulda, coulda.

One wouldn't want to have the same dilemmas at 50 as one had at 15. And indeed I don't. I have a very different take on life.

You see things differently at 40 than you do at 31. Especially if you got to 40 the way I did.

What I've observed and what I've imagined - and definitely what I'm hoping - happens as you get older is that there's a mellowing, an acceptance that comes with time. I guess that I'll find out.

I've known and seen a lot of things over my years.

The older you get, the better you realize you were.

The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.

So, do I think I'm missing something? I really don't, and I think that comes with age.

I actually think there's an incredible amount of self-knowledge that comes with getting older.

Many years ago, I used to say, 'I haven't lived long enough to be great.' Now I don't say that.

I just don't like to talk about the past.

As I get older, I've been having a better and better time.

There are no regrets in life, just lessons.

I think for all of us, as we age, there are always a few moments when you are shocked.

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

As you get older, you come to a place in life where you can't just live in the present.

I've become a lot wiser over the years.

There is something to be said for being older - and memories.

Deeper things, heavier things happen to you as you get older and makes you more open.

As you get older your own problems are not that interesting.

I can pass on a lot of information. I'm just never going to be the 21-year-old Penny Hardaway again.

Keep in mind that people change, but the past doesn't.

The past is one evil less and one memory more.

The older I get, the more I feel.

Age does not bring wisdom... but it does give perspective... and the saddest sight of all is to see, far behind you, temptations you've resisted.