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
Rejoice, 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 BCChildhood knows what it wants—to leave childhood behind.
—Jean Cocteau, 1947Ah, there are no children nowadays.
—Molière, 1673There 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, 1876Most men employ the first years of their life in making the last miserable.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688No one’s serious at seventeen.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1870No time to marry, no time to settle down, I’m a young woman, and ain’t done runnin’ round.
—Bessie Smith, 1926The young leading the young is like the blind leading the blind.
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1747The young man must store up, the old man must use.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 63Youth, youth, springtime of beauty.
—Anthem of the National Fascist Party, c. 1924A dissolute and intemperate youth hands down the body to old age in a worn-out state.
—Cicero, 44 BCBlessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
—Herbert Hoover, 1936