Most men employ the first years of their life in making the last miserable.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688Quotes
No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706Childhood 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 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, 1968A dissolute and intemperate youth hands down the body to old age in a worn-out state.
—Cicero, 44 BCChildhood has no forebodings—but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow.
—George Eliot, 1860Youth, youth, springtime of beauty.
—Anthem of the National Fascist Party, c. 1924Ah, there are no children nowadays.
—Molière, 1673Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330The young man must store up, the old man must use.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 63Youth 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, 1881Rejoice, 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 BC