Is there no end to this escalation of desire?

In our long and obsessive passion for youth, we have - more than any other modern society - avoided direct approach to age and to dying by denying them in word, in fact, and - above all - in worth.

What is asserted by a man is an opinion; what is asserted by a woman is opinionated. A woman with ideas and the ability to express them is something of a social embarrassment, like an unhousebroken pet.

The process of maturing is an art to be learned, an effort to be sustained.

You cannot throw words like heroism and sacrifice and nobility and honor away without abandoning the qualities they express.

Is there no end to this escalation of desire?

The process of maturing is an art to be learned, an effort to be sustained. By the age of fifty you have made yourself what you are, and if it is good, it is better than your youth.