--- title: 10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From the Smartest Older People description: I’ve posted before about research into the most important life lessons we can learn from older people, taken from Karl Pillemer‘s excellent book, 30 Lessons... canonical: https://time.com/2853974/10-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-smartest-older-people/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-11T04:01:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:54:14.247Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From the Smartest Older People og:description: An important lesson in life is learning whom you can rely on, depend on, and trust, and whom you cannot. og:url: https://time.com/2853974/10-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-smartest-older-people/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce4acf06784c9256/698696f9e53abaa5804d315f/170693096.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5119 og:image:height: 2879 og:image:alt: 170693096 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From the Smartest Older People twitter:description: An important lesson in life is learning whom you can rely on, depend on, and trust, and whom you cannot. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce4acf06784c9256/698696f9e53abaa5804d315f/170693096.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From the Smartest Older People > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=422298ca-4a86-4c34-bee4-96b7521d6ab2&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jun 11, 2014 4:01 AM UTC  Couple smiling in snow Couple smiling in snow Matt Hind—Getty Images/OJO Images RF by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jun 11, 2014 4:01 AM UTC I’ve posted before about research into the most important [life lessons we can learn from older people](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/04/most-important-life-lesson/), taken from [Karl Pillemer](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/05/karl-pillemer-most-important-life-lessons-older-people/)‘s excellent book, [30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452298482/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0452298482&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20). Here’s another take on the same subject: **Before the 50th reunion of Harvard Business School’s class of 1963 they asked them** [**what lessons they would pass on to younger people**](http://hbs1963.com/)**.** **This isn’t firm scientific research — but we ignore it at our peril. We can learn much about life from those who have seen it to the end.** The site has a lot of content but I’ve gone through and curated the bits that I felt were most useful and insightful. Hat tip to my friend [Nick](https://twitter.com/nickkrasney) for the pointer. ## LEADERSHIP --- > “” --- --- > “” --- ## CAREER --- > “” --- ## MARRIAGE & FAMILY --- > “” --- ## BUSINESS --- > “” --- ## WEALTH --- > “” --- ## GROWING OLDER --- > “” --- ## CHARITY & SPIRITUALITY --- > “” --- ## HAPPINESS & SUCCESS --- > “” --- --- > “” --- ## TURNING POINTS --- > “” --- --- > “” --- ## LIFE’S LESSONS --- > “” --- --- > “” --- Here are more [life lessons from the wise](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/04/most-important-life-lesson/). **Join 45K+ readers.** Get a free weekly update via email [here](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD). Related posts: [What’s The Most Important Life Lesson Older People Feel You Must Know?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/04/most-important-life-lesson/) [How To Make Your Life Better By Sending Five Simple Emails](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/make-your-life-better/) [What 10 things should you do every day to improve your life?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/05/what-10-things-should-you-do-every-day-to-imp/) _This piece originally appeared on_ [_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2853974/10-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-smartest-older-people/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2853974/10-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-smartest-older-people/"},"headline":"10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From the Smartest Older People","datePublished":"2014-06-11T04:01:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:54:14.247Z","description":"I’ve posted before about research into the most important life lessons we can learn from older people, taken from Karl Pillemer‘s excellent book, 30 Lessons...","url":"https://time.com/2853974/10-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-smartest-older-people/","keywords":["Psychology","Marriage","Family","Happiness","Business topic","Leadership","career","Success topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce4acf06784c9256/698696f9e53abaa5804d315f/170693096.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Barker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-barker/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce4acf06784c9256/698696f9e53abaa5804d315f/170693096.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170693096","caption":"170693096","creditText":"Matt Hind—Getty Images/OJO Images RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2853974/10-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-smartest-older-people/","name":"10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From the Smartest Older People"}}]}] ```