John Adams Quotes

There are so many things about which some old man ought to tell one while one is little; for when one is grown one would know them as a matter of course.

As time goes by and you're getting older and stuff like that - getting older sucks. You know, I hear all this crap about, 'Oh, you can age with dignity.' Really?

I'm fascinated by people in their eighties and nineties. Especially those who are still creating and living in an interesting way. I am fascinated by them because they have so much to say now that they've lived for so long.

Age wins and one must learn to grow old.

I think I am aging, but I'm enjoying the process.

Someone once said that you can make the choice between getting old and getting creepy, and I think getting old is the way to go.

Now that I am sixty, I see why the idea of elder wisdom has passed from currency.

I've been doing old-people things since I was a child.

If entertainment years were dog years, man, I'd be like Gandhi. I'd be, like, 250 years old.

It is not how old you are, but how you are old.

I think aging and maturing is really interesting, and it's a shame that Americans are so panicky and paranoid about it.

Growing older is not upsetting; being perceived as old is.

White people don't seem to have many Elders. They do have a lot of oldsters.

When we looked at the life cycle in our 40s, we looked to old people for wisdom. At 80, though, we look at other 80-year-olds to see who got wise and who not. Lots of old people don't get wise, but you don't get wise unless you age.

My mom is, for 89 years old, is extraordinarily open-minded.

What could be more beautiful than a dear old lady growing wise with age? Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it.

I want to sit with 80- and 90-year-old people more than anyone. They have played this game before. Not one of them has told me, 'I wish I had more money.'

I love getting older!

I don't mind being older. I'm proud of my age. I've achieved a lot. It's the same thing with Mick and the Stones. They should be revered and respected. Isn't it strange that now we're living longer we have so much less respect for old age? Perhaps it's a less valuable commodity?

I love talking with elderly people.

Los Macorinos are much older than I am so when you surround yourself with older people you realize they lived what we're living now. They live in a moment of peace because they don't have to prove anything anymore.

I feel like I've lived two or three completely different lives. At 33, I'm quite reflective and have the perspective you get in your old age when you have been through the losses of life.

The only time I ever think about getting old is when I look in the mirror. I feel pretty good about it, actually.

Everybody complains about getting older, but I find it such a rich time of life. There are negative things about it, I suppose, but more than that, I'm finding it to be a very positive experience in which growth suggests itself in a much more alluring way than it did when I was young - isn't that funny?

I listen to the older people who talk to me. I call them my old heads, people with a lot of wisdom. They'll teach you a lot if you listen.