Honor your father and your mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Listen to your father, who gave you life, and don't despise your mother when she is old.

You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD.

If a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

Your Lord has commanded that you worship none but Him and that you be kind to your parents. If one or both of them reach old age with you, do not say to them a word of disrespect, or scold them, but say a generous word to them.

It is out of reverence to Allah to respect the white-headed Muslim.

Those who do not show mercy to our young ones and do not realize the right of our elders are not from us.

To guard one's mind, being respectful and filial to one's parents is of foremost importance.

Before heading home from the Meadowview, with my mother snug in bed, I slumped over the steering wheel, sobbing. Across America, in parking lots like this one, middle-aged daughters do this all the time.

I do not pretend to know who is right. But I do know this: most old people do not want their lives extended beyond reason. They don't want their adult children changing their diapers. They don't want to lose their minds and their memories.

As painful as the role reversal between parent and child may be for you, assume it is worse for your mother or father, so take care not to demean or humiliate them.

Taking care of someone in old age isn't a job for an amateur, especially if you want some time at the end of your parents' life to enjoy them, learn more about them, and be a good son or daughter.

Yes, I volunteered to take the care of my aging parents on, but there was never a moment when I didn't wish to be let off the hook.

Parenting is a relentless calling. There is no time off, sick leave, retirement package, or vacation pay. My new career had no discernible job description... And everyone expected me to know what to do.

I didn't want to feel alone in a room with Alzheimer's.

Dementia does not rob someone of their dignity, it's our reaction to them that does.

Until there's a cure, there's care.

Just like gems, each person is precious, valuable, and unique, and given the right setting and care, can shine.

Offering care means being a companion, not a superior. It doesn't matter whether the person we are caring for is experiencing cancer, the flu, dementia, or grief.

Even though people experiencing dementia become unable to recount what has just happened, they still go through the experience. The psychological present lasts about three seconds. We experience the present even when we have dementia.

Dementia care—it's not rocket science, it's heart science.

The battle of being mortal is the battle to maintain the integrity of one's life — to avoid becoming so diminished or dissipated or subjugated that who you are becomes disconnected from who you were or who you want to be.

Our reluctance to honestly examine the experience of aging and dying has increased the harm we inflict on people and denied them the basic comforts they most need.

People with serious illnesses have priorities besides simply prolonging their lives. Their top concerns include avoiding suffering, strengthening relationships with family and friends, being mentally aware, not being a burden on others, and achieving a sense that their life is complete.

Keep in mind that talking about the worst-case scenarios won't make them come true, and refusing to talk about them won't make them go away.

Death ends a life, not a relationship.

Aging is not just decaying, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.

I also believe that parents, if they love you, will hold you up safely, above their swirling waters, and sometimes that means you'll never know what they endured.

Healing is not the same as curing, after all; healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.

Spiritual practices help us move from identifying with the ego to identifying with the soul. Old age does that for you too. It spiritualizes people naturally.

The best Armour of Old Age is a well spent life preceding it; a Life employed in the Pursuit of useful Knowledge, in honourable Actions and the Practice of Virtue.

Old age: the crown of life, our play's last act.

Caring for our parents is the highest expression of our humanity.

The Lord calls us to follow Him in every age of life, and old age has a grace and a mission too, a true vocation from the Lord.

A certain culture of profit insists on making the elderly appear to be a burden, an extra weight. They are not only unproductive; they are an encumbrance, and are to be discarded. And discarding them is sinful.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.

It's doing small things for the love of each other—just a smile, or carrying a bucket of water, or showing some simple kindness. These are the small things that make up compassion.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends, and living our lives.

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

The highest is being a credit to our parents, the second is not disgracing them; the lowest is being able simply to support them.

No matter how many material goods we provide our parents with, if we are insincere, disobedient or disrespectful, we are treating them just like animals.

At a certain point, your parents become like kids. It does get better. The kids will get older, they will become a little bit more self-sufficient, and they won't need you as much.