Ageing is about losing youth and finding a varicose vein. It is about fighting your children and making peace with your parents. It is about gaining wisdom and mislaying your reading glasses. Throughout time, people have feared ageing, laughed at it, cried about it, defied it, accepted it - and written about it.

This delightful collection gathers together the most memorable quotations about ageing, including those of William Shakespeare, D H Lawrence, Oscar Wilde and Evelyn Waugh, right up to Margaret Thatcher, Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld.