quotations about youth
All of us who are worth anything spend our manhood in unlearning the follies, or expiating the mistakes of our youth.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
letter to John Gisborne, Nov. 16, 1819
The ship of youth crowds sail; but if the wind forsakes it, the canvas hangs motionless, awaiting a friendly breath; and too often illusions are summoned to its aid.
MME. SWETCHINE
The Writings of Madame Swetchine
So wise so young, they say, do never live long.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Richard III
There is a very prevalent tenet with youth, that good company is every thing desirable, and that bad is even better than none.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Youth without beauty is half a prize.
G. WHITE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Try to hold on to youth and it mocks you while it sprints away.
FRANK HERBERT
Chapterhouse: Dune
A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present?
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
You can spend the entire second half of your life recovering from the mistakes of the first half.
SAUL BELLOW
Seize the Day
Since time immemorial, youth has set the universal standard of physical beauty, and the reason is simply that a shapely firm young face and body are more attractive sexually and aesthetically than bulges, sags and wrinkles.
HUGH HEFNER
Playboy, Jan. 1974
A youth without fire is followed by an old age without experience.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.
JON KRAKAUER
Into the Wild
When beautiful youth is gone, not much of life remains.
G. ULTHORN
attributed, Day's Collacon
When you're young, you think you can handle anything. By the time you find out otherwise, it's already too late. You got a stocking wrapped around your neck.
HARUKI MURAKAMI
Dance, Dance, Dance
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
"All Lovely Things"
Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme,
Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay;
Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime,
For oh, it is not always May!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"It Is Not Always May"
She does not simulate youth, and yet she is young. Her smile is as captivating as ever, her laugh as merry and as contagious; and though she can no longer romp with her juniors, she enjoys a vivacious game by proxy as much as she ever did in person, and teases with the same innocent and admirable coquetry. Age has quieted her body but not sobered her spirit. As the life of youth is still hers, so are all its interests. In truth, they have widened with the widening years. As her children have grown up and entered into their several professions, she has accompanied them. Whatever touches their life touches hers, whatever interests them interests her. If she cannot enter into their fields, she can at least come to the fence and look over. So, disavowing all professional knowledge, she is yet singularly intelligent in medicine, law, journalism, theology, and teaching. Her children, when they come home, find her always a ready pupil, and, often to their surprise, their intellectual comrade. Although infirmity begins to put its limitations on her activities, never did life seem to her to be so large, so varied, so full of ever-broadening interest. She occasionally brings out of the past sacred and stimulating memories. But she does not live in the past. She lives in her children, that is in the present, and in her grandchildren, that is in the future.
LYMAN ABBOTT
The Home Builder
Youth is not rich in time; it may be poor;
Part with it as with money, sparing; pay
No moment but in purchase of its worth,
And what it's worth, ask death-beds; they can tell.
EDWARD YOUNG
Night Thoughts
Youth is only ever fun in retrospect.
SUNDARA KARMA
"Youth is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect"
If you're young and talented, it's like you have wings
HARUKI MURAKAMI
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Our lives were just beginning, our favorite moment was right now, our favorite songs were unwritten.
ROB SHEFFIELD
Love is a Mix Tape