It is unthinkable for a Frenchman to arrive at middle age without having syphilis and the Cross of the Legion of Honor.
It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.
I had used eclectic therapy and behavior therapy on myself at the age of 19 to get over my fear of public speaking and of approaching young women in public.
In passing, we should note this curious mark of our own age: the only absolute allowed is the absolute insistence that there is no absolute.
It's not catastrophes, murders, deaths, diseases, that age and kill us it's the way people look and laugh, and run up the steps of omnibuses.
Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a lad of about 19.
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.
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.
No man was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life, as not to receive new information from age and experience.
Elizabeth Peyton, the artist known for tiny, dazzling portraits of radiant youth, is now painting tiny, dazzling portraits of radiant middle age.
When people tell me I'm an artist, I say, 'What?' It's impossible for me to take the idea seriously.
What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.
Haven't you felt a peculiar sort of worry about the chair in your living room that no one sits in?
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
What perhaps should receive more attention is the effect of the treatment on the virus.