John Locke on maturity

A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.

Kurt Vonnegut1922–2007Cat’s Cradle (1963), Chapter 88

• Laughter

Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man.

Democritus460–360 BCFreeman (1948), p. 152

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

Albert Einstein1879–1955Out of My Later Years (1950), Ch. 2 “Self-Portrait” (1936), p. 5

• Age