Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Fear Getting Older — and How Your Life Might Actually Improve

NOTE: This post originally appeared (in full) on the Stairway to Wisdom, a premium newsletter and library of book breakdowns that can only be described as “traditional book summaries on steroids.” Claim your 1-month (yes, 1 whole month) free trial here.

For more than 2,000 years, readers have loved and kept coming back to Cicero’s dialogue concerning the wonders and benefits of aging (yea, you read that right) — people like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Saint Augustine, to name a few. Michel de Montaigne even said that the book “gives one an appetite for growing old.” I’m not exactly in a rush to get into my sixties, but How to Grow Old, originally titled On Old Age, has absolutely stood the test of time.

Cicero was a Roman politician, writer, and orator who lived during the chaotic years after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the power vacuum that ensued. He published the book in 44 B.C., right before being executed by Mark Antony (Cleopatra’s BF) and after a long and very high-profile career as one of the leading figures of the Roman Empire.

In the Philip Freeman translation, which is the one this Breakdown is based on, there’s also the original Latin text displayed on the facing page, which you can follow along with if you’re so…