In other words, it was better for grandchildren to have no living grandmother at all than it was to live with an old one or one that was in poor health.
" If you're leaving a job that is physically bad for you, where you are getting terrible sleep and you're constantly stressed out, then retirement is great for your health."
To all invitations he replied with the same courteous but positive refusal, saying that his health was bad and his time fully occupied, and that he had neither strength nor leisure for going into society.