Affliction is the wholesome soul of virtue;
Where patience, honor, sweet humanity,
Calm fortitude, take root, and strongly flourish.
—Mallet and Thomson.
Affliction's sons are brothers in distress;
A brother to relieve, how exquisite the bliss!
—Burns.
With the wind of tribulation God separates in the floor of the soul, the chaff from the corn.—Molinos.
No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.—Hebrews 12:11.
Age.—No wise man ever wished to be younger.—Swift.
I venerate old age; and I love not the man who can look without emotion upon the sunset of life, when the dusk of evening begins to gather over the watery eye, and the shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper upon the understanding.—Longfellow.
It is only necessary to grow old to become more indulgent. I see no fault committed that I have not committed myself.—Goethe.
That which is usually called dotage is not the weak point of all old men, but only of such as are distinguished by their levity.—Cicero.
We must not take the faults of our youth into our old age; for old age brings with it its own defects.—Goethe.
Learn to live well, or fairly make your will;
You've play'd, and lov'd, and ate, and drank your fill;
Walk sober off, before a sprightlier age
Comes titt'ring on, and shoves you from the stage.
—Pope.