Casals on Aging

Brain Pickings pointed me to the autobiography of Pablo Casals, Joys and Sorrows. It sounds like a wonderful book, and Pablo's thoughts on aging are something to revisit regularly as I grow older.

If you continue to work and to absorb the beauty in the world about you, you find that age does not necessarily mean getting old. At least, not in the ordinary sense. I feel many things more intensely than ever before, and for me life grows more fascinating.

The man who works and is never bored is never old. Work and interest in worthwhile things are the best remedy for age.

I'm fascinated, too, by the story given in Brain Pickings of an orchestra in the Caucasus whose members were all over 100. Not only do the players prove Casals's point, they show another fascinating trend—the remarkable tendency of musicians to longevity.