With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

This line is spoken by the clown Feste in Shakespeare’s comedy *Twelfth Night*. It occurs during the festive, music-filled atmosphere of Olivia’s household, where Feste—licensed to jest—often turns entertainment into pointed commentary. In the play’s world of disguises, misrule, and revelry, Feste’s songs and quips repeatedly remind the other characters (and the audience) that time passes and pleasure is fleeting. The remark comes as part of a song urging people to embrace joy while they can, letting age arrive accompanied by good humor rather than regret.

The line counsels an attitude toward aging: welcome the physical signs of time (“old wrinkles”) with cheer rather than dread. Shakespeare frames mirth not as denial of mortality but as a way of meeting it—an ethic of living fully in the present. In *Twelfth Night*, where characters chase love, status, and self-invention, Feste’s lyric wisdom punctures pretension and reminds everyone that time will have the last word. The sentiment elevates laughter into a kind of resilience: if age is inevitable, one can at least choose the spirit in which it is received.