“I don’t know,†he admitted.
“Well.†She started pouring tea. “To start things off, what do you think of the world?â€
“I don’t know anything.â€
“The beginning of wisdom, as they say. When you’re seventeen you know everything. When you’re -seven if you know everything you’re still seventeen.â€
“You seem to have learned quite a lot over the years.â€
“It is the privilege of old people to seem to know everything. But it’s an act and a mask, like every other act and mask. Between ourselves, we old ones wink at each other and smile, saying, How do you like mask, act, certainty? Isn’t life a play? Don’t I play it well?â€
They both laughed quietly.
Ray Bradbury