Death used to announce itself in the thick of life but now people drag on so long it sometimes seems that we are reaching the stage when we may have …

- Ronald Blythe

Acceptance of death when it arrives is one thing, but to allow it to upstage the joys of living is ingratitude.

- Ronald Blythe

One of the reasons why old people make so many journeys into the past is to satisfy themselves that it is still there.

- Ronald Blythe

I sometimes think that God will ask us, 'That wonderful world of mine, why didn't you enjoy it more?

- Ronald Blythe

Old age is - a lot of crossed off names in an address book.

- Ronald Blythe

The ordinariness of living to be old is too novel a thing to appreciate.

- Ronald Blythe

To be old is to be part of a huge and ordinary multitude... the reason why old age was venerated in the past was because it was extraordinary.

- Ronald Blythe

As for the British churchman, he goes to church as he goes to the bathroom, with the minimum of fuss and no explanation if he can help it.

- Ronald Blythe

Jane Austen can in fact get more drama out of morality than most other writers can get from shipwreck, battle, murder, or mayhem.

- Ronald Blythe