By rights he was still outrunning his age, still ahead of most men nearing threescore years, but he knew deep in his heart that there would never be … - Scott Lynch

It had the expression common to all kittens, that of a tyrant in the becoming.

Yes, I like it a lot, it's all worth having to bathe, even!
Hmmm, said Chains. You live long enough for your stones to drop, then tell me if bathing is really such a hardship when the young women around you have bosoms that are more than theoretical.
What? When my what?
Never mind. That subject will be sufficiently confusing in its own good time.

They’ll be fine, and wiser for the experience. Young minds are brittle. Oldsters, now, we’ve had some disappointments. We’ve set aside the notion that we’re the center of the universe, so our minds bend with strain instead of meeting it head-on.