The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the older man who will not laugh is a fool.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Youth should feel deep emotion like grief; age should keep the capacity for joy.
- In plain terms
- Young people should cry and old people should laugh.
- What can you take from it?
- Feel deeply young laugh later.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How should emotions change with age?
- What defines maturity?
Another view
Individual paths to emotional health vary widely.
More from George Santayana
All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible.
Permalink to quote #39 Philosophers are as jealous as women. Each wants a monopoly of praise.
Permalink to quote #41 Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.
Permalink to quote #38
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