How Old Would You Be If You Didn’t Know How Old You Were?




This provocative question was posed by baseball great Leroy “Satchel” Paige, whose career highlights spanned five decades. It was his way of saying that age isn’t always a factor in success or failure, and he certainly was proof of that. So if you ever find yourself wondering (regardless of your age), “Am I too old for that?” – to go back to school, or change careers, or learn to fly, or fall in love – here are some other examples that show you’re never too old:
 
  • Actor George Burns won his first Oscar at age 80.
  • Golda Meir was 71 years of age when she became prime minister of Israel.
  • At age 96, playwright George Bernard Shaw broke his leg when he fell out of a tree he was trimming in his backyard.
  • Painter Grandma Moses didn’t start painting until she was 80 years old. She completed more than 1,500 paintings after that, 25% of those when she was past the age of 100.
  • Michelangelo was 66 years old when he finished painting the Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel.
  • Physician and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer was still performing operations in his African hospital at the age of 89.
  • Doc Counsilman, at 58, became the oldest person ever to swim the English Channel.
  • S.I. Hayakawa retired as president of San Francisco State University at age 70, then earned a seat in the U.S. Senate.
  • Casey Stengel didn’t retire from managing the New York Mets until he was 75 years old.
Finally, here’s another great quote, this one from Mark Twain:
 
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.



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