Grown up, and that is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, c. 1940Quotes
No one’s serious at seventeen.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1870Youth is the time to go flashing from one end of the world to the other both in mind and body, to try the manners of different nations, to hear the chimes at midnight.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881Ah, there are no children nowadays.
—Molière, 1673No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706Youth, youth, springtime of beauty.
—Anthem of the National Fascist Party, c. 1924A sick child is always the mother’s property; her own feelings generally make it so.
—Jane Austen, 1816Childhood knows what it wants—to leave childhood behind.
—Jean Cocteau, 1947Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
—Herbert Hoover, 1936The young man must store up, the old man must use.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 63Rejoice, 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 BCMost men employ the first years of their life in making the last miserable.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688Bright youth passes as quickly as thought.
—Theognis, c. 550 BC