“A woman at a certain age who is unmarried, our society teaches her to see it as a deep personal failure. And a man, after a certain age isn’t married, we just think he hasn’t come around to making his pick.”

1930s, Wisehart interview (1930)
Context: Much reading after a certain age diverts the mind from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theaters is apt to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life.

Les nouveaux amis que nous faisons après un certain âge, et par lesquels nous cherchons à remplacer ceux que nous avons perdus, sont à nos anciens amis ce que les yeux de verre, les dents postiches et les jambes de bois sont aux véritables yeux, aux dents naturelles et aux jambes de chair et d'os.
Maximes et Pensées (Van Bever, Paris :1923), #303
Reflections

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

A Guide for the Bedevilled
Books

Apr 2014. As quoted/attributed in : Another SP leader’s rape remark sparks outrage https://web.archive.org/web/20140618193004/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/another-sp-leaders-rape-remark-sparks-outrage/article5902266.ece

1920s, Viereck interview (1929)

Variant: A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.