Patrick O'Brian on aging

"As for the blue devils of which you complain, my dear, do not expect too much from my remedies: youth and unthinking happiness are not to be had in a bottle, alas. You are to consider that a certain melancholy and often a certain irascibility accompany advancing age: indeed it might be said that advancing age equals ill-temper. On reaching the middle years a man perceives that he is no longer able to do certain things, that what looks he may have had are deserting him, that he has a ponderous great belly, and that however he may burn he is no longer attractive to women; and he rebels. Fortitude, resignation, and philosophy are of more value than any pills, red, white or blue."

-Stephen Maturin speaking to Jack Aubrey

from Patrick O’Brian
The Truelove