Quotation by

James Joyce

I think a child should be allowed to take his father's or mother's name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.

James Joyce

Age

Understanding this quote AI Analysis

James Joyce suggests that when a child becomes an adult, they should have the freedom to choose whether to use their father's or mother's last name. He also implies that the idea of who the father is, in legal terms, is not always a straightforward truth but rather something created by law.

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The first crocodile I ever caught was at nine years of age, and it was a rescue.

Time, in general, has always been a central obsession of mine - what it does to people, how it can constitute a plot all on its own. So naturally, I am interested in old age.

Any young man who is unmarried at the age of twenty one is a menace to the community.

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What though youth gave love and roses, Age still leaves us friends and wine.

In a spiritually sensitive culture, then, it might well be that age is something to be admired or envied.