The best is yet to be

Posted by ESC on April 18, 2003

In Reply to: I shall wear purple posted by Word Camel on April 17, 2003

: : : During our class discussion, one of my students made reference to my age, to which I replied "Ah but, the older the violin, the sweeter the music!"
: : : My submission is twofold. Am I mistakenly attributing this to Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove?"
: : : I then recalled, "There may be snow on the roof, but there is still a fire in the hearth!" "Wine gets better with age!"
: : : I would appreciate any and all references/ quotes/ sayings as to the advantages of aging.
: : : Thanks in advance!

: : These women could probably quote you a few -- www.redhatsociety.com/ They are followers of the sentiments expressed in this poem posted here in part:

: : WARNING
: : By Jenny Joseph

: : When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
: : With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
: : And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
: : And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
: : I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
: : And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
: : And run my stick along the public railings
: : And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
: : I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
: : And pick the flowers in other people's gardens . . .

: : But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
: : So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
: : When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

: Gus McRae does indeed say this in Lonesome Dove. I have done a little looking and haven't found it attributed to anyone else but I doubt it's McMurtry's. Another variation is 'the older the bottle, the sweeter the wine.' The point is, for me anyway, is he's absolutely right. :)

: Camelita
: A camel of a certain age.

When everything else physical and mental seems to diminish, the appreciation of beauty is on the increase. - Bernard Berenson, "Sunset and Twilight."

With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding. - Bible, Job 12:12.

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made. - Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra"

I grow old.I grow old.
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. - Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr., letter to Julia Ward Howe on her 70th birthday.

Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. - W. Somerset Maugham, "The Summing Up"

Old age has a great sense of calm and freedom. When the passions have relaxed their hold, you have escaped not from one master but from many. - Plato, "The Republic"

And I've heard that you catch fewer colds and don't have to shave your legs as often.