“It is the unfortunate paradox of life, therefore, that with wisdom comes sorrow. To know ourselves for what we are is to know ourselves for what we are no longer, and for what we may become. A man or a woman in their mid-life might rub a painful knee in damp weather and remember somberly the careless vibrancy of youth. But from this sad reminiscence how small a step is it to an outright cynical appraisal of the future? So the ravages of time, and therefore decay, can make us feel melancholy or bitter, but worst of all they can sometimes make us feel helpless.”