The fact that human conscience remains partially infantile throughout life is the core of human tragedy.
Erik EriksonWhen 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.
Erik EriksonHealthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death.
Erik EriksonThe richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love and play.
Erik EriksonThese same experiences make of the sequence of life cycles a generational cycle, irrevocably binding each generation to those that gave it life and to those for whose life it is responsible. Thus, reconciling lifelong generativity and stagnation involves the elder in a review of his or her own years of active responsibility for nurturing the next generations, and also in an integration of earlier-life experiences of caring and of self-concern in relation to previous generations.
Erik Erikson