“The world is as the sea, in whose salt waves, / Like streams, we lose the freshness of our youth.”

— Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Friendship's Offering, 1825

About Letitia Elizabeth Landon

1802 – 1838

English poet and novelist, who wrote as "L.E.L."

“No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable.”

“Methinks adieu / Is cold, when uttered with aught else but tears.”

“Yes ; look thro' the world, and this truth you will find / That, once out of sight, you are soon out of mind.”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

“The instructions of an old man are precious.”

“Old age deprives the intelligent man only of qualities useless to wisdom.”

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.”

“I call upon you, young men, to obey your heart, and be the nobility of this land.”

“The young have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations.”