There 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, 1876Quotes
Most men employ the first years of their life in making the last miserable.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330Youth, youth, springtime of beauty.
—Anthem of the National Fascist Party, c. 1924I was born at a very early age. Before I had time to regret it, I was four and a half years old.
—Groucho Marx, 1959Bright youth passes as quickly as thought.
—Theognis, c. 550 BCThe 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, 1964Youth 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, 1881The 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, 1968I’ve never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It’s probably because they have forgotten their own.
—Margaret Atwood, 1976No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706The young leading the young is like the blind leading the blind.
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1747Ah, there are no children nowadays.
—Molière, 1673