“Strength and beauty are the blessings of youth; temperance, however, is the flower of old age.”

—  Democritus

Fragment quoted in H. Diels and W. Kranz (eds.) Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Vol. II (1952), no. 294; reference taken from Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations (2005), p. 261

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Strength and beauty are the blessings of youth; temperance, however, is the flower of old age." by Democritus?
Democritus photo
Democritus 81
Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of t…

Related quotes

William Wordsworth photo

“A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free.”

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Romantic poet

The Fountain, st. ?? (1799).
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo photo

“I compare that old relic with myself… ruins and dilapidation. What a difference between then and now. Then, youth, strength and riches; now age, weakness and poverty.”

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807–1890) Californian military commander, politician, and rancher

as quoted by Dayton Duncan, Geoffrey C. Ward "Lachryma Montis," The West, Episode Eight (1996) referring to his old ranch house near Petaluma, California

Hussain Ahmed Madani photo

“The blessed age of youth is extremely valuable; adorn it with the pleasant hues of Allah’s remembrance.”

Hussain Ahmed Madani (1879–1957) 19th century Islamic scholar of India

Hussain Ahmad Madani Malfuzat Hadrat Madani, p.83 (Delhi: Dar al-Isha‘at, July 1998 ed.) by Mawlana Abu ‘l-Hasan Barah Bankwi

Sören Kierkegaard photo

“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

Swenson, 1959, p. 21
1840s, Either/Or (1843)

Anne Bradstreet photo

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

Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) Anglo-American poet

3.
Meditations Divine and Moral (1664)

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Jack London photo

“Age is never so old as youth would measure it.”

Jack London book The Wit of Porportuk

"The Wit of Porportuk" in The Best Short Stories of Jack London (1962) ISBN 0-449-30053-6

Leonardo Da Vinci photo

“Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Context: Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment.

Related topics