It might sound a paradoxical thing to say --for surely never has a generation of children occupied more sheer hours read more

It might sound a paradoxical thing to say --for surely never has a generation of children occupied more sheer hours of parental time --but the truth is that we neglected you. We allowed you a charade of trivial freedoms in order to avoid making those impositions on you that are in the end both the training ground and proving ground for true independence. We pronounced you strong when you were still weak in order to avoid the struggles with you that would have fed your true strength. We proclaimed you sound when you were foolish in order to avoid taking part in the long, slow, slogging effort that is the only route to genuine maturity of mind and feeling. Thus, it was no small anomaly of your growing up that while you were the most indulged generation, you were also in many ways the most abandoned to your own meager devices by those into whose safe-keeping you had been given.

A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to read more

A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to hear children's speech only as a foreign language, or as a lie. Children have been treated. as congenital fibbers, fakers and fantasisers.

Give me a child for the first seven years, and you may do what you like with him afterwards.

Give me a child for the first seven years, and you may do what you like with him afterwards.

I don't know any parents that look into the eyes of a newborn baby and say, How can we screw read more

I don't know any parents that look into the eyes of a newborn baby and say, How can we screw this kid up.

It's a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.

It's a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.

For many children, joy comes as the result of mining something unique and wondrous about themselves from some inner shaft.

For many children, joy comes as the result of mining something unique and wondrous about themselves from some inner shaft.

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment read more

By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future. More youth quotes coming soon. If you have a quote, proverb or saying about youth that you would like to be posted on this page please use the 'Submit a Quote' form below. -Unknown.

Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction read more

Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires.