Secrets of the Over-75s

“I’ve learned to pay close attention to what I like and what I don’t like. I avoid situations or people I find boring (which is the greatest crime of all). Also, I’d rather keep away from people and places that might cause me annoyance or pain or make me disagreeable.”

--Irving “Swifty” Lazar, literary agent

From “Going Strong: Portraits and Interviews With Seventy People Seventy-Five and Older--Still Going Strong” by Pat York (Arcade Publishing: $35).