What Age Can Do
Story★★★★• Commodore Vanderbilt built most of his railroads when he was well past seventy. • Kant wrote some of his greatest philosophical works when he was past seventy. • Goethe wrote the second part of Faust after the age of eighty. • Tennyson was eighty-three when he wrote “Crossing the Bar.” • Benjamin Franklin most helped his country after his sixtieth birthday. • Gladstone served as Prime Minister of England at age eighty-three. • Bismarck oversaw the affairs of Germany in his mid-seventies. • John Glenn returned to space at age seventy-five. • Verdi wrote operas into his eighties. • Titian painted his great work, The Battle of Lepanto at age ninety-five and his LAst Supper at age ninety-nine. • Michelangelo was still producing masterpieces at eighty-nine. • Monet was doing the same at eighty-five.
The point
A collection of historical examples showing major accomplishments by people well past seventy—Vanderbilt, Kant, Goethe, Tennyson, Franklin, Gladstone, Bismarck, Glenn, Verdi, Titian, Michelangelo, Monet—teaching that age need not limit contribution.