"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come"
About this Quote
Aging gets recast here as an aesthetic choice: if the years are going to arrive anyway, Shakespeare suggests we should meet them laughing, not bracing. The line’s charm is its light touch. “Old wrinkles” lands with a blunt physicality, an almost comic plainness, but it’s softened by “mirth and laughter,” words that feel airy in the mouth. That contrast is the point: time is heavy; joy is a strategy for carrying it.
In context, the sentiment belongs to The Merchant of Venice, spoken in the orbit of Belmont’s festive, flirtatious world, where pleasure and performance are social currencies. The play itself is split between revelry and harsh accounting, romance and law, mercy and punishment. Against that moral coldness, this line plays like a small rebellion. It’s not denying decay; it’s refusing to let fear of decay dictate the terms of living.
Subtextually, it’s also a piece of social advice. In Shakespeare, laughter isn’t just an emotion; it’s a public posture, a way of signaling resilience and belonging. To “let” wrinkles come implies permission, a release from the anxious self-surveillance that comes with status, desire, and courtship. The line flatters the audience into thinking of gaiety as wisdom: the mature person isn’t the one who can stop time, but the one who can keep time from turning them sour.
It works because it’s both tender and slightly defiant, a miniature manifesto for choosing delight without pretending the bill won’t come due.
In context, the sentiment belongs to The Merchant of Venice, spoken in the orbit of Belmont’s festive, flirtatious world, where pleasure and performance are social currencies. The play itself is split between revelry and harsh accounting, romance and law, mercy and punishment. Against that moral coldness, this line plays like a small rebellion. It’s not denying decay; it’s refusing to let fear of decay dictate the terms of living.
Subtextually, it’s also a piece of social advice. In Shakespeare, laughter isn’t just an emotion; it’s a public posture, a way of signaling resilience and belonging. To “let” wrinkles come implies permission, a release from the anxious self-surveillance that comes with status, desire, and courtship. The line flatters the audience into thinking of gaiety as wisdom: the mature person isn’t the one who can stop time, but the one who can keep time from turning them sour.
It works because it’s both tender and slightly defiant, a miniature manifesto for choosing delight without pretending the bill won’t come due.
Quote Details
| Topic | Aging |
|---|---|
| Source | The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare) — line from the play commonly cited as "With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come". |
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