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It was one of the deadliest and heaviest feelings of my life to feel that I was no longer a boy. From that moment I began to grow old in my own esteem — and in my esteem age is not estimable.

— Anatole France Misattributed

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Age

More quotes by Anatole France

The gods conform scrupulously to the sentiments of their worshippers: they have reasons for so doing.

The White Stone (1905)

To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

Archangel Michael, and you, Powers, Thrones, and Dominations, swear all of you to be faithful to your God.

The Revolt of the Angels (1914)

Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.

Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom.

All Anatole France quotes →

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From now on, everything in life will appear blurry to me. What’s the point of wiping my glasses when my vision has already left me?"

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The land of easy mathematics where he who works adds up and he who retires subtracts.

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Older people are most beautiful when they have what is lacking in the young: poise, erudition, wisdom, phronesis, and this post-heroic absence of agitation.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Anatole France (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.