Søren Kierkegaard on maturity

People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid.

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.

The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.

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