Montaigne said that those of us who are lucky to live a long time should curb our expectations for going on. In other words, we should retire.
He thought the right age was 40.
Montaigne thought a person’s capacity for judgement was formed by 20. It followed that he thought most minimum age limits were silly. He poked fun at Augustus, who ruled the Roman Empire at 19, for thinking magistrates should be at least 30.
Montaigne also said this:
But it seems to me that our souls are subject in old age to ills and imperfections more insolent than those of youth. … age sets more wrinkles in our minds than our faces.
Sadly, that rings true to me.
• Source: Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays, translated by M.A. Screech; London: Penguin Books, 1993. His general views on aging are in “On the length of life,” pp. 366-7. The quotation is from “On repenting,” p. 921.
No comments:
Post a Comment