A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.
Interpretation
Age is not determined by years but by one's quest for knowledge and purpose.
This quote by Jean Rostand highlights the idea that the pursuit of goals, dreams, or knowledge keeps one youthful at heart. It suggests that as long as a person is actively seeking and yearning for something, they possess vitality and a spirit that transcends age, thus redefining what it means to grow old.
In practice
In a motivational speech about lifelong learning.
If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it.
Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.
My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.
We spend our time envying people whom we wouldn't wish to be.
Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood - we fail to see the whole array when it is facing in the same direction as we.
When a scientist is ahead of his times, it is often through misunderstanding of current, rather than intuition of future truth. In science there is never any error so gross that it won't one day, from some perspective, appear prophetic.
It's better to be silent than to be a fool.
What we are tempted to call a disaster is sometimes the first, painful stage of a blessing.
One of the advantages of travelling the world is that you get to know the world broadly. And one of the advantages of staying in one place is that you get to know the world deeply.
I call intuition cosmic fishing. You feel a nibble, then you've got to hook the fish.
By playing at Chess then, we may learn: First: Foresight... Second: Circumspection... Third: Caution...And lastly, we learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering in the secrets of resources
IMPROVIDENCE, n. Provision for the needs of to-day from the revenues of to-morrow.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.