Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.
— Douglas MacArthur, born on this date in 1880
My mother, and perhaps my father, used the expression "PMA", meaning prematurely middle aged. Having said that, merely living a number of years does in my experience go a long way to making one old.
ReplyDelete