Death used to announce itself in the thick of life but now people drag on so long it sometimes seems that we are reaching the stage when we may have to announce ourselves to death. It is as though one needs a special strength to die, and not a final weakness.

The ordinariness of living to be old is too novel a thing to appreciate.

I sometimes think that God will ask us, 'That wonderful world of mine, why didn't you enjoy it more?

Old age is - a lot of crossed off names in an address book.

To be old is to be part of a huge and ordinary multitude... the reason why old age was venerated in the past was because it was extraordinary.

Jane Austen can in fact get more drama out of morality than most other writers can get from shipwreck, battle, murder, or mayhem.

One of the reasons why old people make so many journeys into the past is to satisfy themselves that it is still there.