No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706Quotes
The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
—Donald Barthelme, 1964No one’s serious at seventeen.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1870The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
—Edward VIII, 1957Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
—Herbert Hoover, 1936Childhood knows what it wants—to leave childhood behind.
—Jean Cocteau, 1947The young man must store up, the old man must use.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 63I was born at a very early age. Before I had time to regret it, I was four and a half years old.
—Groucho Marx, 1959I’ve never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It’s probably because they have forgotten their own.
—Margaret Atwood, 1976The boy is, of all wild beasts, the most difficult to manage.
—Plato, c. 348 BCRejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
—Book of Ecclesiastes, c. 200 BCI shall soon be six-and-twenty. Is there anything in the future that can possibly console us for not being always twenty-five?
—Lord Byron, 1813No time to marry, no time to settle down, I’m a young woman, and ain’t done runnin’ round.
—Bessie Smith, 1926