We hope to grow old and we dread old age; that is to say, we love life and we flee from death.

[L’on espère de vieillir, et l’on craint la vieillesse; c’est-à-dire l’on aime la vie, et l’on fuit la mort.]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645–1696) French essayist, moralist

The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 41 (11.41) (1688) [ed. Hoyt (1896)]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Other translations:

We hope to grow old, and we fear old age; that is, we are willing to live, and afraid to dye.
[Bullord ed. (1696); Curll ed. (1713)]

We hope to grow old, and yet we fear old Age; that is, we are willing to live, and afraid to die.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

We hope to grow old, and yet we dread old age; or, in other words, we are willing to live, and afraid to die.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]

We hope to grow old, and we dread old age; in other words, we love life and we shun death.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]