#graceful

Sophistication might be described as the ability to cope gracefully with a situation involving the presence of a formidable menace to one's poise and prestige (such as the butler, or the man under the bed - but never the husband). ↗

— James Thurber

#bed #butler #cope #described #formidable

I don’t ever remember being afraid of “oldness”. There are things I miss about being younger - chiefly the ability to pull all-nighters and keep working and working well; and being smiled at by girls I didn’t know who thought I was cute; and I wish I had the eyesight I had even five years ago… but that stuff feels pretty trivial. I’m happier than I’ve been at any time in my life these days. I have a wonderful wife whom I adore, watched three amazing kids grow into two delightful adults and my favourite teenager, an astonishing number of grand life experiences, I’ve made art I’m proud of, I have real, true, glorious friends, and I’ve been able to do real good for things I care about, like freedom of speech, like libraries. Sometimes I’ll do something like An Evening With Neil and Amanda, or the 8 in 8 project, and completely surprise myself. I miss friends who have died, but then, I’m glad that time gave them to me, to befriend, even for a while, and that I was alive to know them. I knew Douglas Adams, and I knew Roger Zelazny, and I knew John M Ford, and I knew Diana Wynne Jones… do you know how lucky that makes me? Ah, I’m rabbiting on, and I sound a bit more Pollyannaish than I’m intending to sound: I know the downside of age and the downside of time, and I am sure that the view from age 51 is not the view from age 71. I wish the time hadn’t gone so fast, though. And sometimes I wish I’d enjoyed it more on the way, and worried about it less. ↗

— Neil Gaiman

#growing-older #inspirational #age

It's not about, 'Let me play as long as I can so I don't have to grow up.' It's about, 'Let me play as long as I enjoy it,' and when it's time to step away, I can step away gracefully even if I'm still good enough to keep playing, because I'm ready for that next phase. ↗

— Angela Ruggiero

#away #because #enjoy #enough #even

The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully. ↗

— Eric Hoffer

#best #best part #gracefully #grow #how

It is a most disgraceful shame the way in which Irishmen are brought up. They are ashamed of their language, institutions, and of everything Irish. ↗

— Douglas Hyde

#brought #disgraceful #everything #institutions #irish

When someone says they feel old, I always want to ask them why they feel old. Time passes for everyone. No one is exempt. ↗

— Donna Lynn Hope

#growing-old #old #age

Pop songs are not as graceful as they used to be. Performers today haven't gone through the regimen of learning how to write. And of course, everyone wants to own copyrights. ↗

— Hal David

#everyone #gone #graceful #haven #how

The sweat of hard work is not to be displayed. It is much more graceful to appear favored by the gods. ↗

— Maxine Hong Kingston

#displayed #favored #gods #graceful #hard

As much as I value an union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union, unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade, because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union. ↗

— George Mason

#agreed #because #bring #disgraceful #i

I copied my brother. He was a natural dancer. Graceful. People always asked did we study ballet. We never did. ↗

— Harold Nicholas

#asked #ballet #brother #copied #dancer