Ian Mckellen Quotes

For me, anyone who is over 80, I generally sit down and have a chat to because he is over 80, and he is going OK.

Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.

I've become 40, my audience is partly the same age.

Before you contradict an old man, my fair friend, you should endeavor to understand him.

For me, there are two types of people: the young and the experienced.

Old people should be heard but not seen. Young people should be seen, not heard.

I don't hate old men but listen when being spoken to.

A lot of people say writers start losing their powers after 60 or 65. But I look at the best-seller list and see a book by that 14-year-old gymnast, Dominique Moceanu, and I think, 'Now, what's she going to tell the world? And these 25-year-old rock stars, what are they going to tell the world?'

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 have a great affinity for senior citizens.

What is it to be normal, at 12, at 78? What is it like when you can't grow up?

Nothing ages you more immediately than being called 'Mrs.'

I've just always got on with people older than me for some reason.

I don't think about 'age groups.'

I've dated men my age, younger than me and older. The only difference is the young ones are quicker at taking out the garbage.

You can be young and still have views and opinions.

Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.

It's mad what each generation vilifies. It's not necessarily to do with logic.

You become more tolerant when you become older. You're not interested in rapping people over the knuckles; you're interested in understanding them.

The fun thing about getting older is finding younger people to mentor.

I am much more understanding of people than I used to be when I was young - people were either villainous or wonderful. They were painted in very bright colours. The bad side of it - and there is a corollary to everything - is that when we get older, we fuss more. I used to despise people who fussed.

As long as any adult thinks that he, like the parents and teachers of old, can become introspective, invoking his own youth to understand the youth before him, he is lost.

I don't look my age, I don't feel my age and I don't act my age. To me age is just a number.

People say that if you're still angry at 52, you're not an angry young man, just a grumpy old git.

Generally young men are regarded as radicals. This is a popular misconception. The most conservative persons I ever met are college undergraduates. The radicals are the men past middle life.