Most men employ the first years of their life in making the last miserable.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688Quotes
Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
—Herbert Hoover, 1936Rejoice, 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 BCGrown 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. 1940The young man must store up, the old man must use.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 63The boy is, of all wild beasts, the most difficult to manage.
—Plato, c. 348 BCI’ve never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It’s probably because they have forgotten their own.
—Margaret Atwood, 1976Bright youth passes as quickly as thought.
—Theognis, c. 550 BCI was born at a very early age. Before I had time to regret it, I was four and a half years old.
—Groucho Marx, 1959Youth 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, 1881There 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, 1876