Middle Kingdom
Teaching of Ptahhotep: Maxim 1
c. 1800 BCE
The Teaching of Ptahhotep is the oldest philosophical text in the world, attributed to a vizier of the 5th Dynasty but copied in the Middle Kingdom on Papyrus Prisse. The first maxim meditates on the hardships of old age and the wisdom it brings, urging the young to listen to those with experience.
1
How hard and painful it is for every man who is old!
2
Good becomes misery; taste, sight, smell all fail; his nose is stopped, speech is difficult; his heart forgets.
3
Everything is bad for a man who is old; his limbs fail him, his eyes see not, his bones ache, the heart is heavy.
4
How does he bear weakness, deafness and pain? Every affliction of the heart!