My dear Kacvey,
How amazing it was that Pythagoras (c. 580-500 B.C.) and Confucius (c. 551-479 B.C.) had come very close to each other in studying the philosophy on man’s life！
Consider these two statements:
1. In his book “Lives of Eminent Philosophers”, Diogenes Laertius related that Pythagoras divided man’s life into four quarters thus: “Twenty years a boy, twenty years a youth, twenty years a young man, twenty years an old man; and these four periods correspond to the four seasons, the boy to spring, the youth to summer, the young man to autumn, and the old man to winter,” meaning by youth one not yet grown up and by a young man a man of mature age.
2. In Book II of “The Analects”, Confucius said: “At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart’s desire without transgressing the norm.”