One does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.
—Bob Dylan (b.1941) American Singer-songwriter
By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future.
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1899–1948) American Writer, Artist
Relationships are the hallmark of the mature person.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don’t know anything at all.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension.
—Joshua L. Liebman (1907–48) American Jewish Rabbi, Author
Age is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.
—Martha Graham (1894–1991) American Choreographer
We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice — that is, until we have stopped saying “It got lost,” and say, “I lost it.”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
If boyhood and youth are but vanity, must it not be our ambition to become men?
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
—Wilhelm Stekel (1868–1940) Austrian Physician, Psychologist
It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen.
—Brigitte Bardot (b.1934) French Film Star
Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst