The young always have the same problem—how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their elders and copying one another.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968Quotes
No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
—Mark Twain, 1876Rejoice, 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 BCBright youth passes as quickly as thought.
—Theognis, c. 550 BCThe thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
—Edward VIII, 1957The boy is, of all wild beasts, the most difficult to manage.
—Plato, c. 348 BCAh, there are no children nowadays.
—Molière, 1673No time to marry, no time to settle down, I’m a young woman, and ain’t done runnin’ round.
—Bessie Smith, 1926Grown 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. 1940No one’s serious at seventeen.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1870The young leading the young is like the blind leading the blind.
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1747Childhood has no forebodings—but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow.
—George Eliot, 1860