“The young have less charity for aged follies than the old for those of youth.”

“No bonds last longer than those made in early youth. At that age one is less mistrustful and less troubled by trifles.”

Adolph Freiherr Knigge book Über den Umgang mit Menschen

“For to those who have not the means within themselves of a virtuous and happy life every age is burdensome; and, on the other hand, to those who seek all good from themselves nothing can seem evil that the laws of nature inevitably impose. To this class old age especially belongs, which all men wish to attain and yet reproach when attained; such is the inconsistency and perversity of Folly! They say that it stole upon them faster than they had expected. In the first place, who has forced them to form a mistaken judgement? For how much more rapidly does old age steal upon youth than youth upon childhood? And again, how much less burdensome would old age be to them if they were in their eight hundredth rather than in their eightieth year? In fact, no lapse of time, however long, once it had slipped away, could solace or soothe a foolish old age.”
Quibus enim nihil est in ipsis opis ad bene beateque vivendum, eis omnis aetas gravis est; qui autem omnia bona a se ipsi petunt, eis nihil potest malum videri quod naturae necessitas afferat. quo in genere est in primis senectus, quam ut adipiscantur omnes optant, eandem accusant adeptam; tanta est stultitiae inconstantia atque perversitas. obrepere aiunt eam citius quam putassent. primum quis coegit eos falsum putare? qui enim citius adulescentiae senectus quam pueritiae adulescentia obrepit? deinde qui minus gravis esset eis senectus, si octingentesimum annum agerent, quam si octogesimum? praeterita enim aetas quamvis longa, cum effluxisset, nulla consolatione permulcere posset stultam senectutem.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

“Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.”

Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934) British writer

“A young woman can live off the folly of men; a man of any age can live off the folly of women.”

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist

“To make good use of life, one should have in youth the experience of advanced years, and in old age the vigor of youth.”

Stanisław Leszczyński (1677–1766) king of Poland

“A young man who is unable to commit a folly is already an old man.”

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French Post-Impressionist artist

“Young people suffer less from their faults than from the prudence of the old.”

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist

“Old age realizes the dreams of youth: look at Dean Swift; in his youth he built an asylum for the insane, in his old age he was himself an inmate.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

“Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending.”

Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) Anglo-American poet