My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all.

My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all.

What power had I
before I learned to yield?
Shatter me Great Wind!
I shall possess the field!
Richard Wilbur
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What power had I
before I learned to yield?
Shatter me Great Wind!
I shall possess the field!
Richard Wilbur
a stanza from his poem To A Milkweed.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

Youth condemns; maturity condones.

Youth condemns; maturity condones.

One stops being a child when one realizes that telling one's trouble does not make it better.

One stops being a child when one realizes that telling one's trouble does not make it better.

It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen.

It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen.

When I grow up I want to be a little boy.

When I grow up I want to be a little boy.

To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.

To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.

By the age of twenty, any young man should know whether or not he is to be a specialist and read more

By the age of twenty, any young man should know whether or not he is to be a specialist and just where his tastes lie. By postponing the question we have set on immaturity a premium which controls most American personality to its deathbed.