maturity

A patient willingness to defer dividends is a hallmark of individual maturity.

Maturity is not equated with independence though it includes a certain capacity for independence...The independence of the mature person is simply that he does not collapse when he has to stand alone. It is not an independence of needs for other persons with whom to have relationship: that would not be desired by the mature.

{The mature person} pours himself out in service to others.

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.

We must learn not to disassociate the airy flower from the earthy root, for the flower that is cut off from its root fades, and its seeds are barren, whereas the root, secure in mother earth, can produce flower after flower and bring their fruit to maturity.

Citizenship comes first today in our crowded world. . . . No man can enjoy the privileges of education and thereafter with a clear conscience break his contract with society. To respect that contract is to be mature, to strengthen it is to be a good citizen, to do more than your share under it is to be noble.

To grow mature is to separate more distinctly, to connect more closely.

To recognize causes is to think, and through thought alone feelings become knowledge and are not lost, but become real and begin to mature.

Blisters are a painful experience, but if you get enough blisters in the same place, they will eventually produce a callus. That is what we call maturity.

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.