Life's Pleasures Quote by Rick Kaplan

Kaplan frames aging as a brand problem: time is going to change you, so the only question is whether you can make that change read as “premium” rather than “spoiled.” The fine wine vs. bad vinegar contrast is doing more than being cute. Wine signals patience, craft, and controlled conditions; vinegar signals neglect, sourness, and the kind of sharpness nobody asked for. In one sentence he turns maturity into an outcome you can manage, not just endure.

As a businessman, that’s the tell. This isn’t a poetic meditation on growing old; it’s a values statement about self-auditing. Experience, in his framing, is raw material. The subtext is a warning to peers (and to himself): tenure and authority don’t automatically make you wise; they can just as easily make you brittle, resentful, overconfident. “I hope” slips in a bit of humility, but it’s also strategic. He’s signaling awareness that decay is plausible, even common, in environments where power goes unchallenged.

The line works because it’s conversational and legible while still carrying a quiet moral calculus. In business culture, where people are constantly evaluated for “seasoning” and “judgment,” Kaplan borrows a tasting metaphor to suggest that character has notes, finish, and aftertaste. He’s asking to be judged the way markets judge products: by what years of pressure produce, and whether the result is richer or just harsher.