The difference is that these young people take it for granted that they're going to get whatever they want, and that we almost always took it for granted that we shouldn't.

Only, I wonder - the thing one's so certain of in advance: can it ever make one's heart beat as wildly?

First published in 1920, The Age of Innocence certainly confirms the very familiar concept of history repeating. But Edith Wharton wasn't a fan of "that kind of innocence, the innocene that seals the mind against imagination and the heart against experience." Neither are we. Let's stick to the wildy beating hearts.