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Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old.
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“Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old.”

Jonathan Swift

Source
Thoughts on Various Subjects
Date
1713
Meaning

Meaning of “Every man desires to live long; but no…”

Swift compresses a familiar contradiction into satire: people may desire a long life while resisting the aging that necessarily accompanies it.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Thoughts on Various Subjects, c. 1713, Wikisource transcription. The aphorism is a satirical paradox about longevity and aging, not advice to fear or devalue old age.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

Acceptance Quotes About Reality, Limits & ChangeDeepFunnyLifePresent MomentShortThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionTimeMaturityWisdom About Life
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“In a world where all is fleeting, change alone endures.”

Arthur Schopenhauer · Counsels and Maxims · 1851
Meaning & context

Stability is temporary, so practical judgment requires expecting change rather than treating present arrangements as permanent.

Source details

Counsels and Maxims, T. Bailey Saunders translation, in a discussion of fortune and apparent stability.

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The course of life is fixed, and nature admits of its being run but in one way, and only once.
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“The course of life is fixed, and nature admits of its being run but in one way, and only once.”

Cicero · Cato on Old Age · 44 BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Marcus Cato (Cato the Elder)
Meaning & context

Each stage of life occurs only once, so wisdom includes accepting its appropriate strengths instead of endlessly trying to restore an earlier stage.

Source details

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation, in Cicero’s discussion of the distinctive advantages of each season of life.

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I am not young enough to know everything.
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“I am not young enough to know everything.”

J. M. Barrie · The Admirable Crichton · 1902
Meaning & context

Barrie reverses the cliché that age brings complete wisdom, making youthful certainty—not age—the comic claim to omniscience.

Source details

The Admirable Crichton, Act I, Project Gutenberg #3490. Ernest Woolley repeatedly delivers “I am not young enough to know everything” as a self-consciously clever epigram while Agatha, Treherne and the others struggle to understand it; Crichton later says he has no idea what Ernest meant. It remains fictional comic dialogue rather than J. M. Barrie autobiography or a factual claim about age and knowledge.

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You live as if you were destined to live forever.
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“You live as if you were destined to live forever.”

Seneca · On the Shortness of Life · c. 49
Meaning & context

Ignoring mortality can make postponement feel harmless, so Seneca treats awareness of limits as a reason to choose more deliberately now.

Source details

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter III; Seneca asks an older person to reckon honestly with how time was spent.

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He who binds to himself a joy does the winged life destroy.
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“He who binds to himself a joy does the winged life destroy.”

William Blake · Eternity · c. 1790s
Meaning & context

Trying to possess a joyful moment permanently can damage it, while accepting impermanence allows experience to remain alive and free.

Source details

Short poem commonly titled “Eternity”; Blake contrasts grasping with the passing movement of joy.

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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
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“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

Ecclesiastes · King James Bible — Ecclesiastes 3:1 · 1611
Meaning & context

The verse places change inside a larger rhythm of seasons and purposes, making it useful for thinking about acceptance when one phase of life gives way to another.

Source details

Ecclesiastes 3:1 in the King James Version, opening the sequence of contrasting times and seasons.