Cicero would’ve been a great dinner guest.

Cicero would’ve been a great dinner guest

He lived more than 2,000 years ago in Rome, wore a toga, and had a sharp mind. Half philosopher, half politician - and fully human. Somehow, I feel like I know him.

Cicero.

He was a brilliant orator and writer, known for his persuasive speeches and philosophical works. The kind of man who could challenge your thinking, then offer you the best seat at the table and refill your glass. Both publicly ambitious and surprisingly warm.

When I read his essay De Senectute (“On Old Age”), I wasn’t expecting much. But it felt like someone reaching across time to say:

“You’re not alone. And this part of life? It matters."Here are 5 lessons from Cicero - reminders that aging isn’t something to fear or fight. It is becoming more yourself. With presence. With curiosity. And maybe even with pride.

1. Old age is not a weakness. It’s a strength of a different kind.

Cicero challenges the common fear that aging means becoming less. Less useful. Less seen. Less relevant. Less alive.

He argues that just as every season has its beauty, so does old age. Wisdom, calm, and perspective take the place of raw energy. That’s not a loss - it’s a gain.

“Each season of life has its own character, its own reason for being.”

2. Your mind can stay young even if your knees don’t.

Cicero believed mental activity was the real fountain of youth. Read. Reflect. Stay curious. Engage in thoughtful conversations.

“It is not by muscle, speed, or physical power great things are achieved, but by reflection".

Staying mentally awake, he said, was the real anti-aging secret.

3. You don’t stop being useful. You just give differently.

He admired older people who stayed involved - not trying to compete with youth, but offering something youth can’t always give: wisdom, clarity, calm.

"We don’t retire from purpose. We just offer it in new forms."

4. Aging doesn’t begin at 60. It begins in how we live now.

Cicero believed that old age reflects who we’ve been becoming all along. It’s not something that starts when your hair turns gray. It starts much earlier - in how we show up for life.

There’s a saying I once heard: when you’re young, your face is a gift from nature.

After 50, it’s your own. Every line tells a story. Every expression reflects who you’ve become.

5. Aging is a part of life’s rhythm - not its end.

Aging, in Cicero’s world, wasn’t about loss. It was a harvest.

A time to pass on wisdom. To enjoy quiet moments. To stop apologizing for taking up space - and just be.

Not shrinking, but ripening.