WIST Quotations

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 20:35:22 +0000

You need repent none of your youthful vagaries. They may have been over the score on one side, just as those of age are probably over the score on the other. But they had a point; they not only befitted your age and expressed its attitude and passions, but they had a relation to what was outside of you, and implied criticisms on the existing state of things, which you need not allow to have been undeserved, because you now see that they were partial.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 2 (1881)

Nash, Ogden -- “Tarkington, Thou Should’st Be Living in This Hour,” Versus (1939)

Dave — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:25:11 +0000

O Adolescence, O Adolescence
I wince before thine incandescence.
Thy constitution, young and hearty
Is too much for this aged party.

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet
“Tarkington, Thou Should’st Be Living in This Hour,” Versus (1939)

Fry, Stephen -- Moab Is My Washpot, “Falling In,” ch. 6 (1997)

Dave — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 23:54:56 +0000

Didn’t Woody Allen say that all literature was a footnote to Faust? Perhaps all adolescence is a dialogue between Faust and Christ. We tremble on the brink of selling that part of ourselves that is real, unique, angry, defiant and whole for the rewards of attainment, achievement, success and the golden prizes of integration and acceptance; but we also in our great creating imagination, rehearse the sacrifice we will make: the pain and terror we will take from others’ shoulders; our penetration into the lives and souls of our fellows; our submission to willingness to be rejected and despised for the sake of truth and love and, in the wilderness, our angry rebuttals of the hypocrisy, deception and compromise of a world which we see to be so false. There is nothing so self-righteous nor so right as an adolescent imagination.

Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
Moab Is My Washpot, “Falling In,” ch. 6 (1997)

Butler, Octavia -- Imago, ch. 2, sec. 9 (1989)

Dave — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 14:24:12 +0000

Helpless lust and unreasoning anxiety were just part of growing up.

Octavia Butler (1947–2006) American writer
Imago, ch. 2, sec. 9 (1989)

McGinley, Phyllis -- Poem (1952-03-15), “Homework for Annabelle,” st. 4, New Yorker, Vol. 28, No. 4

Dave — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:24:22 +0000

For high is the price of parenthood,
And daughters may cost you double.
You dare not forget, as you thought you could,
That youth is a plague and a trouble.

Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978) American author, poet
Poem (1952-03-15), “Homework for Annabelle,” st. 4, New Yorker, Vol. 28, No. 4

Reprinted in Love Letters (1954). Full poem.

Feiffer, Jules -- Cartoon, The Observer (3 Feb 1974)

Dave — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 16:00:08 +0000

At sixteen I was stupid, confused and indecisive. At twenty-five I was wise, self-confident, prepossessing, and assertive. At forty-five I am stupid, confused, insecure, and indecisive. Who would have supposed that maturity is only a short break in adolescence?

Jules Feiffer (b. 1929) American cartoonist, authork, satirist
Cartoon, The Observer (3 Feb 1974)

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler -- Sam Slick’s Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1853)

Dave — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 05:17:27 +0000

Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience.

Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865) Canadian politician, judge, humorist
Sam Slick’s Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1853)

Aaronovitch, Ben -- Whispers Under Ground (2012)

Dave — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 15:07:41 +0000

Like young men from the dawn of time, I decided to choose the risk of death over certain humiliation.

Ben Aaronovitch (b. 1964) British author
Whispers Under Ground (2012)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:09:23 +0000

It is as natural and as right for a young man to be imprudent and exaggerated, to live in swoops and circles, and beat about his cage like any other wild thing newly captured, as it is for old men to turn grey, or mothers to love their offspring, or heroes to die for something more valuable than their lives.

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:39:11 +0000

All error, not merely verbal, is a strong way of stating that the current truth is incomplete. The follies of youth have a basis in sound reason, just as much as the embarrassing questions put by babes and sucklings. Their most antisocial acts indicate the defects of our society. When the torrent sweeps the man against a boulder, you must expect him to scream, and you need not be surprised if the scream is sometimes a theory.

Martin, Judith -- Miss Manners’ Guide for the the Turn-of-the-Millennium, Part 2 “Home Life,” “Parents and Children” (1989)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The invention of the teenager was a mistake, in Miss Manners’ opinion. […] Once you identify a period of life in which people have few restrictions and, at the same time, few responsibilities — they get to stay out late but don’t have to pay taxes — naturally nobody wants to live any other way.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Miss Manners’ Guide for the the Turn-of-the-Millennium, Part 2 “Home Life,” “Parents and Children” (1989)

Most often rendered as a slight paraphrase:

The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes -- naturally, no one wants to live any other way.