–Confucius said that it was not till sixty that "his ears obeyed him".
Between thirty and forty, one is distracted by the Five Lusts; Between seventy and eighty, one is prey to a hundred diseases. But from fifty to sixty one is free from all ills; Calm and still–the heart enjoys rest. I have put behind me Love and Greed; I have done with Profit and Fame; I am still short of illness and decay and far from decrepit age. Strength of limb I still possess to seek the rivers and hills; Still my heart has spirit enough to listen to flutes and strings. At leisure I open new wine and taste several cups; Drunken I recall old poems and sing a whole volume. Meng-te has asked for a poem and herewith I exhort him Not to complain of three-score, "the time of obedient ears."