Each generation must watch the next, throwing away its golden opportunities.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)
Quotations about:
generation
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
The young should have our respect. How do we know that the coming generation may not prove to be the equal of the present one?
[後生可畏、焉知來者之不如今也]
Confucius (c. 551- c. 479 BC) Chinese philosopher, sage, politician [孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, K'ung Fu-tzu, K'ung Fu Tse), 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ, Chungni), 孔丘 (Kǒng Qiū, K'ung Ch'iu)]
The Analects [論語, 论语, Lúnyǔ], Book 9, verse 23 (9.23) (6th C. BC – AD 3rd C.) [tr. Annping Chin (2014)]
(Source)
Originally numbered by Legge as v. 22. The numbering by translator is shown below. (Source (Chinese)). Alternate translations:
A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present?
[tr. Legge (1861), 9.22]
Reverent regard is due to youth. How know we what difference there may be in them in the future from what they are now?
[tr. Jennings (1895), 9.22]
Youths should be respected. How do we know that their future will not be as good as we are now?
[tr. Ku Hung-Ming (1898), 9.22]
The young should inspire one with respect. How do we know that their future will not equal our present?
[tr. Soothill (1910), 9.22]
You can respect ’em soon after birth, how can one know what will come up to present record?
[tr. Pound (1933), 9.22]
Respect the young. How do you know that they will not one day be all that you are now?
[tr. Waley (1938), 9.22]
Juniors are to be respected. How do we know that in future they will not be our equals?
[tr. Ware (1950), 9.23]
It is fitting that we should hold the young in awe. How do we know that the generations to come will not be the equal of the present?
[tr. Lau (1979), 9.23]
The young should be revered, for how does one know that what is to come will not be as good as the present?
[tr. Dawson (1993), 9.23]
One should regard the young with awe: how do you know that the next generation will not equal the present one?
[tr. Leys (1997), 9.23]
Young people are awe-inspiring. How do we know that in the future, they will not be so awe-inspiring as they are today?
[tr. Huang (1997), 9.23]
The next generation could be feared, how do you know the future is not better than the now.
[tr. Cai/Yu (1998), 9.23, No. 232]
The young should be held in high esteem. After all, how do we know that those yet to come will not surpass our contemporaries?
[tr. Ames/Rosemont (1998), 9.23]
The young are to be held in awe. How do we know that what is to come will not surpass the present?
[tr. Brooks/Brooks (1998), 9.23]
Hold the young in awe. How can we know their generation will not equal our own?
[tr. Hinton (1998), 9.23]
We should look upon the younger generation with awe because how are we to know that those who come after us will not prove our equals?
[tr. Slingerton (2003), 9.23]
Respect those younger than yourself. How do you know that the coming generation may not prove as good as our present one?
[tr. Watson (2007), 9.23]
We should feel threatened by young people because they might supersede us.
[tr. Li (2020), 9.23]
People at the top do not want to share their power. They’ve always got some marvellous reason: I’m following my religion; I’m following the laws of economics. Even Stalin: I’m representing the vanguard of the working class, so please don’t cause trouble. That is the battle that every generation has, and yet we mustn’t be pessimistic about it.
Tony Benn (1925-2014) British politician, writer, diarist
“Hope Is the Key,” Interview, Share International (Jan 2003)
(Source)
My personal disillusionment with the church began when I was thrust into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery. I was confident that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would prove strong allies in our just cause. But some became open adversaries, some cautiously shrank from the issue, and others hid behind silence. My optimism about help from the white church was shattered; and on too many occasions since, my hopes for the white church have been dashed. There are many signs that the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. Unless the early sacrificial spirit is recaptured, I am very much afraid that today’s Christian church will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and we will see the Christian church dismissed as a social club with no meaning or effectiveness for our time, as a form without substance, as salt without savor. The real tragedy, though, is not Martin Luther King’s disillusionment with the church — for I am sustained by its spiritual blessings as a minister of the gospel with a lifelong commitment: The tragedy is that in my travels, I meet young people of all races whose disenchantment with the church has soured into outright disgust.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Playboy interview (Jan 1965)
(Source)
In the end, the American Dream is not a sprint or even a marathon, but a relay.
Julián Castro (b. 1974) American politician and lawyer
Speech, Democratic National Convention, Charlotte, North Carolina (2012-09-04)
(Source)
It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, “Wait on time.”
The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence, — luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition, — are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.
Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
The Unquiet Grave (1944)
Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you.
Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
(Attributed)
(Source)
Comment to author, David Pryce-Jones, Cyril Connolly: Journal and Memoir (1983)
No one can understand history without continually relating the long periods which are constantly mentioned to the experiences of our own short lives. Five years is a lot. Twenty years is the horizon to most people. Fifty years is antiquity. To understand how the impact of destiny fell upon any generation of men one must first imagine their position and then apply the time-scale of our own lives.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1 “The Birth of Britain” (1956-58)
I have not found this generation to be cynical or apathetic or selfish. They are as strong and as decent as any people that I have met. And I will say this, on my way down here I stopped at Bethesda Naval, and when you talk to the young kids that are there that have just been back from Iraq and Afghanistan, you don’t have the worry about the future that you hear from so many that are not a part of this generation but judging it from above.
Jon Stewart (b. 1962) American satirist, comedian, and television host. [b. Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz]
Commencement Address, College of William & Mary (2004-05-20)
(Source)
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
(Source)
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Review of A Coat of Many Colours: Occasional Essays by Herbert Read, Poetry Quarterly (Winter 1945)
