I was cursed or blessed with a prolonged adolescence; I arrived at some seeming maturity when I was past thirty. It was only in my forties that I really began to feel young. By then I was ready for it. – Henry Valentine Miller (1891–1980), “On Turning Eighty”

I dont know whether its age or maturity, but I certainly find myself committed more and more to the looser forms of Western democracy at any price. – John le Carre

Writers obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age. – Alexander McCall Smith