There too was Cephalus the father of Polemarchus, whom I had not seen for a long time, and I thought him very much aged. He was seated on a cushioned chair, and had a garland on his head, for he had been sacrificing in the court; and there were some other chairs in the room arranged in a semicircle, upon which we sat down by him.
[....]
[Socrates:] And this is a question which I should like to ask of you who have arrived at that time which the poets call the “threshold of old age” —Is life harder towards the end, or what report do you give of it?
[....]
[Cephalus, after listing the ways others claim getting old sucks:] But this is not my own experience, nor that of others whom I have known. How well I remember the aged poet Sophocles, when in answer to the question, How does love suit with age, Sophocles —are you still the man you were? Peace, he replied; most gladly have I escaped the thing of which you speak; I feel as if I had escaped from a mad and furious master. His words have often occurred to my mind since, and they seem as good to me now as at the time when he uttered them.
— Plato, The Republic, Book I
(It's worth noting that some readings of this are that Socrates is giving Cephalus a little friendly ribbing by prompting him to talk about this, Socrates [the character, or the man, either way] actually being around the same age as Cephalus in this dialog and still plainly being far more vigorous and eagerly engaging with life)
------------
I don't need a lover, no, no, no
The wretched beast is tame
I don't need a lover
So blow out the flame
— Leonard Cohen, "Leaving the Table", from his final album.
[....]
[Socrates:] And this is a question which I should like to ask of you who have arrived at that time which the poets call the “threshold of old age” —Is life harder towards the end, or what report do you give of it?
[....]
[Cephalus, after listing the ways others claim getting old sucks:] But this is not my own experience, nor that of others whom I have known. How well I remember the aged poet Sophocles, when in answer to the question, How does love suit with age, Sophocles —are you still the man you were? Peace, he replied; most gladly have I escaped the thing of which you speak; I feel as if I had escaped from a mad and furious master. His words have often occurred to my mind since, and they seem as good to me now as at the time when he uttered them.
— Plato, The Republic, Book I
(It's worth noting that some readings of this are that Socrates is giving Cephalus a little friendly ribbing by prompting him to talk about this, Socrates [the character, or the man, either way] actually being around the same age as Cephalus in this dialog and still plainly being far more vigorous and eagerly engaging with life)
------------
I don't need a lover, no, no, no
The wretched beast is tame
I don't need a lover
So blow out the flame
— Leonard Cohen, "Leaving the Table", from his final album.