The game that was being played out in the shadows around the planet Earth was old beyond even its understanding.

And that is one reason why, in this forgotten part of Swaziland, a 12-year-old looks old beyond her years.

Well, you're a child to me and yet you often seem old beyond your years.

Yes, kids today are older and wiser beyond their years because of life in the inner city.

As I often tell him, he is indeed becoming old beyond his years.

We did every- thing that could be done for him, but he is old beyond his seasons.

Their faces were old beyond their years as they waited for a boy to give them orders.

She shivered, her face suddenly drawn and old beyond its years.

Drug abuse, some believe, has already made him appear old beyond his 39 years.

I think it was the first time I'd ever realized he was old beyond his years.