He drew a similar lesson from the fact of ageing in general. It was not that age automatically conferred wisdom. On the contrary, he thought the old were more given to vanities and imperfections than the young. They were inclined to ‘a silly and decrepit pride,6 a tedious prattle, prickly and unsociable humours, superstition, and a ridiculous concern for riches’. But this was the twist, for it was in the adjustment to such flaws that the value of ageing lay. Old age provides an opportunity to recognise one’s fallibility in a way youth usually finds difficult. Seeing one’s decline written on
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