"you can't go on leading the student's life... your friends here will grow older and go away." (when) george protests that he'll get new friends, maugham says, "yes, but you'll grow older too. is there anything more lamentable than the middle-aged man who tries to go on living the undergraduate's life? the old fellow who wants to be a boy among boys, and tries to persuade himself that they'll accept him as one of themselves -- how ridiculous he is. it can't be done."
-the answer is never-