QuoteProject
Why do people talk of the horrors of old age? It's great. I feel like a fine old car with the parts gradually wearing out, but I'm not complaining,... Those who find growing old terrible are people who haven't done what they wanted with their lives.
Martha Gellhorn
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Growing old can be a positive experience if one has lived a fulfilling life.

Martha Gellhorn's quote reflects on the notion of aging, suggesting that instead of fearing the process of getting older, we should embrace it as a natural outcome of life. She asserts that those who have regrets about their lives tend to view aging negatively, while those who have pursued their passions and fulfilled their dreams can appreciate the journey and the wisdom that comes with age.

Themes

AgingFulfillmentLifeWisdomPerspective

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about embracing life experiences.

More from Martha Gellhorn

Gradually I came to realize that people will more readily swallow lies than truth, as if the taste of lies was homey, appetizing: a habit.
Martha GellhornRead
It would be a bitter cosmic joke if we destroy ourselves due to atrophy of the imagination.
Martha GellhornRead
the ends never justify the means because IT never ends.
Martha GellhornRead
Citizenship is a tough occupation which obliges the citizen to make his own informed opinion and stand by it.
Martha GellhornRead
I followed the war wherever I could reach it.
Martha GellhornRead
Thousand got away to other countries; thousands returned to Spain tempted by false promises of kindness. By the tens of thousands, these Spaniards died of neglect in the concentration camps.
Martha GellhornRead

Similar quotes

Of all the things a man may do, sleep probably contributes most to keeping him sane. It puts brackets about each day. If you do something foolish or painful today, you get irritated if somebody mentions it, today. If it happened yesterday, though, you can nod or chuckle, as the case may be. You've crossed through nothingness or dream to another island in Time.
Roger ZelaznyRead
Everyday is a new life to a wise man.
Dale CarnegieRead
Do not confuse understanding with a larger vocabulary, sacred writings are beneficial in stimulating desire for inward realization, if one stanza at a time is slowly assimilated. Continual intellectual study results in vanity and the false satisfaction of an undigested knowledge.
Sri Yukteswar GiriRead
The strength of a theory is not what it allows, but what it prohibits; if you can invent an equally persuasive explanation for any outcome, you have zero knowledge.
Eliezer YudkowskyRead
And a mistake repeated more than once is a decision.
Paulo CoelhoRead
You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.
Sidonie Gabrielle ColetteRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.