# Quote — José Saramago, The Cave

> The young have the ability, but lack the wisdom, and the old have the wisdom, but lack the ability.

- Author: [José Saramago](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago.md)
- Book: [The Cave](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-cave.md)
- Page: 4
- Original (pt): Nem a juventude sabe o que pode nem a velhice pode o que sabe.
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#The_Cave_(2000)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-cave/the-young-have

## More from this book

> Life is like that, full of words that are not worth saying or that were worth saying once but not any more, each word that we utter will take up the space of another more deserving word not deserving in its own right, but because of the possible consequences of saying it.

p. 28 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-cave/life-is-like.md)

> Where do begin, he asked, Where you always have to begin, at the beginning,

p. 53 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-cave/where-do-begin.md)

> The emptiness of old age had caused him to forget that, in matters of feeling and of the heart, too much is always better than too little.

p. 69 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-cave/the-emptiness-of-old.md)