Just at the age ‘twixt boy and youth, When thought is speech, and speech is truth.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
Under your shoulders. Dear young people of the entire world, weigh the responsibility to transform tomorrow’s world into a society where peace, harmony, and fraternity reign.
—Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (b.1948) Timorese Bishop, Nobel Laureate
It is not possible for civilization to flow backwards while there is youth in the world. Youth may be headstrong, but it will advance it allotted length.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
A lazy youth, a lousy age.
—Common Proverb
To get back to my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Having a thirteen-year-old in the family is like having a general-admission ticket to the movies, radio and TV. You get to understand that the glittering new arts of our civilization are directed to the teen-agers, and by their suffrage they stand or fall.
—Max Lerner (1902–92) American Journalist, Educator, Author
The youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
At almost every step in life we meet with young men from whom we anticipate wonderful things, but of whom, after careful inquiry, we never hear another word. Like certain chintzes, calicoes, and ginghams, they show finely on their first newness, but cannot stand the sun and rain, and assume a very sober aspect after washing-day.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Great endowments often announce themselves in youth in the form of singularity and awkwardness.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
—Samuel Ullman (1840–1924) American Businessman, Poet
Youth will be served, every dog has his day, and mine has been a fine one.
—George Borrow (1803–81) English Writer, Traveler
Let a man turn to his own childhood—no further—if he will renew his sense of remoteness, and of the mystery of change.
—Alice Meynell (1847–1922) British Poet, Essayist, Suffragist
Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Heaven lies about us in our infancy and the world begins lying about us pretty soon afterward.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
After all, life hasn’t much to offer except youth and I suppose for older people the love of youth in others.
—Unknown
They mustn’t know my despair, I can’t let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn’t bear their sympathy and their kind-hearted jokes, it would only make me want to scream all the more. If I talk, everyone thinks I’m showing off; when I’m silent they think I’m ridiculous; rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I’m tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc. etc.
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
Youth comes but once in a lifetime.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending.
—Anne Bradstreet (1612–72) American Poet
Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our errors of youth for those of age.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
All lovely things will have an ending, All lovely things will fade and die; And youth, that’s now so bravely spending, Will beg a penny by and by.
—Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) American Poet, Novelist
Those whom the gods love grow young.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Every generation needs a new revolution.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Idle youth, enslaved to everything; by being too sensitive I have wasted my life.
—Arthur Rimbaud (1854–91) French Poet, Adventurer
What might be taken for a precocious genius is the genius of childhood. When the child grows up, it disappears without a trace. It may happen that this boy will become a real painter some day, or even a great painter. But then he will have to begin everything again, from zero.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Youth is a continual intoxication; it is the fever of reason.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Generally young men are regarded as radicals. This is a popular misconception. The most conservative persons I ever met are college undergraduates. The radicals are the men past middle life.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
When the newspapers have got nothing else to talk about, they cut loose on the young. The young are always news. If they are up to something, that’s news. If they aren’t, that’s news too.
—Kenneth Rexroth (1905–82) American Poet, Essayist
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