Proverb Origin: Inside Every Old Person There Is a Young Person Wondering What Happened

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Terry Pratchett? Ashleigh Brilliant? Cora Harvey Armstrong? Dan Sullivan? Hal Roach? Barbara Johnson? Anonymous?

Silhouette image of an old person and a young person from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: An individual who feels young at heart sometimes looks in the mirror and is surprised to find an old person staring back. The years pass surprisingly rapidly. Here is a germane saying:

Inside every older person there’s a younger person wondering what happened.

This statement has been attributed to British fantasist Terry Pratchett and U.S. aphorist Ashleigh Brilliant. Would you please explore the provenance of this expression?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest close match known to QI appeared in the “Los Angeles Times” of California in August 1976. Journalist Dan Sullivan wrote about the Los Angeles Mask Theater which consisted of a troupe of actors and artisans in their mid-20s. The character Sylvia was played by a young actress wearing a mask depicting the face of an elderly woman. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

But talking with Sylvia on the bench, one did feel a species of archetype and magic. There was the reality of the old lady at your elbow and there was the reality of the actress playing her, the mask serving as a kind of bridge between them. If you looked through the eyeholes, you saw that Sylvia had very young eyes, and it almost seemed a reminder that inside every old person there is a young one wondering what happened.

Based on this citation, QI believes Dan Sullivan is the leading candidate for creator of this saying. Ashleigh Brilliant and Terry Pratchett both used the expression after it was already in circulation.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In November 1979 Ashleigh Brilliant published a one-panel cartoon depicting an old person with a cane standing beneath a tree. The cartoon was part of a syndicated series called “Potshots”, and it appeared in newspapers such as the “Anchorage Daily News” of Alaska. The following text accompanied the illustration:2

INSIDE EVERY OLDER PERSON,
THERE’S A YOUNGER PERSON
WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED.

In 1980 Ashleigh Brilliant published a collection of illustrated aphorisms under the title “I Have Abandoned My Search for Truth, and Am Now Looking for a Good Fantasy”. The cartoon mentioned above was included in the book. The year affixed to the cartoon was 1978.3

In 1981 a newspaper in Sioux Falls, South Dakota published a column titled “Hannah’s scrapbag” which included an instance of the saying:4

“Inside every old person is a young person wondering what has happened.”

In 1985 an article in the New York trade journal “Drug Store News” discussed the greeting card business and mentioned that the saying appeared on a birthday card:5

Where Hallmark, Gibson and American Greetings have a card for all sentiments, California Dreamers has a card for all lifestyles. Traditional cards may wish you “Happy Birthday on your special day,” while the nontraditional card may tell you that “Inside every older person, there’s a younger person wondering what happened, Happy Birthday.”

Irish comedian Hal Roach published a collection of humor titled “We Irish Laugh at Ourselves”. The book did not specify a publication date, but the work must have existed by February 23, 1987, when it was mentioned in an article printed in the “Citizens’ Voice” newspaper of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.6 The book included the following item:7

A THOUGHT: Inside every older person, there’s a younger person wondering what happened!

In 1990 Terry Pratchett published the fantasy novel “Moving Pictures” which was the tenth book of the popular Discworld series. Pratchett included the saying when discussing wizards at the Unseen University acting like rambunctious young students:8

. . . inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.

Also, in 1990 Barbara Johnson published “Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy!”, and she mentioned the saying:9

They say that inside every old person is a younger person wondering what happened, and that’s exactly how I feel much of the time. Bill and I live in a mobile home park and many of our neighbors are retired folk. That means a lot of the people are elderly, and I often think, I don’t belong here . . . there are OLD people living here.

In 2001 the Usenet newsgroup rec.crafts.beads contained a post attributing a version of the saying to U.S. gospel singer Cora Harvey Armstrong:10

Inside every older person is a younger person — wondering what the heck happened.
Cora Harvey Armstrong

In 2002 the Usenet newsgroup soc.culture.bulgaria credited Armstrong with another instance tailored to women:11

Inside every older woman is a younger woman – wondering what the hell happened. Cora Harvey Armstrong

In 2012 “The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” from Yale University Press included an entry for this expression which contained the key 1976 citation in the “Los Angeles Times”.12

In conclusion, QI believes that Dan Sullivan deserves credit for this expression. Sullivan’s 1976 article the combined the literal and figurative while writing about a young person wearing a mask which depicted an old person. Ashleigh Brilliant used an instance in 1979, and Terry Pratchett used an instance in 1990.

Image Notes: Silhouette image of an old person and a young person from Khysrow Akbari at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous person whose message led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. The anonymous person noted that the saying had been attributed to Terry Pratchett, Ashleigh Brilliant, Cora Harvey Armstrong, and others. In 2021 the anonymous person directly communicated with Ashleigh Brilliant who pointed to his 1980 book “I Have Abandoned My Search for Truth, and Am Now Looking for a Good Fantasy”. Brilliant died in September 2025.

Special thanks to researchers Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro who authored the “Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” which included an entry on this topic listing the important citation dated August 8, 1976. Also, thanks to researcher Nigel Rees whose “Quote Unquote” newsletter discussed this topic in the October 2014 and January 2015 issues. Mark English mentioned the August 8, 1976 citation found in the “Dictionary of Modern Proverbs”.

  1. 1976 August 8, Los Angeles Times, Section: Calendar, A Mask That Reveals the Face by Dan Sullivan, Quote Page 48, Column 4, Los Angeles, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  2. 1979 November 17, Anchorage Daily News, Potshots by Ashleigh Brilliant, (Chicago Tribune-N.Y. News Syndicate), Date in cartoon: 11-17-79 (November 17, 1979), Quote Page B8, Column 1, Anchorage, Alaska. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  3. 1980, I Have Abandoned My Search for Truth, and Am Now Looking for a Good Fantasy: More Brilliant Thoughts by Ashleigh Brilliant, Quote Page 62, also on back cover, Woodbridge Press Publishing Company, Santa Barbara, California. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  4. 1981 September 27, Argus-Leader, Hannah’s scrapbag, Quote Page 10D, Column 1, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  5. 1985 August 5, Drug Store News, Expanded sections boost card sales (Continuation title: Chains post higher sales, expand card sections), Start Page 15, Quote Page 20, Column 4, Lebhar-Friedman, Inc., New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  6. 1987 February 23, Citizens’ Voice, Advertisement for “A Little Bit of Ireland”, Sponsored by The Donegal Society, Quote Page 21, Column 3, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  7. Undated (1987 or before), We Irish Laugh at Ourselves by Hal Roach (Ireland’s International Comedian), (Note: This book was mentioned in an article published on February 23, 1987, in “Citizens’ Voice” of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), Quote Page 79, Advertisement for book gave this address: Grainne Music Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  8. 1991 (1990 Copyright), Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett, Series: Discworld, Quote Page 262, (First published by Gollancz in 1990), Corgi Books: Transworld Publishing, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  9. 1990, Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy! by Barbara Johnson, Chapter 9, Quote Page 134, Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  10. Usenet discussion message, Timestamp: Nov 25, 2001, 11:34:53 PM, Newsgroup: rec.crafts.beads, From: Marna, Subject: * AD * MHH * New auctions listed on ebay … (Google Groups Search; Accessed October 30, 2025) link ↩︎
  11. Usenet discussion message, Timestamp: Mar 8, 2002, 3:48:09 PM, Newsgroup: soc.culture.bulgaria, From: vitanov, Subject: glupostta. (Google Groups Search; Accessed October 30, 2025) link ↩︎
  12. 2012, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, Compiled by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro, Entry: Inside every old Person, Quote Page 195 and 196, Yale University Press, New Haven. (Verified with hardcopy) ↩︎