Kurt Vonnegut on maturity

The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide.

History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.

The worst thing that could happen to anybody, would be to not be used for anything by anybody.

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

If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being a grown-up is about learning how to die.

Stephen Kingborn 1947Christine (1983), Pt. 1, Ch. 5

• Life & Death