# Quotes about growing up - Quotes: 93 - Authors: 62 - Broader topic: [Quotes about youth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.json ## Quotes > Nothing is slower than the true birth of a man. [Marguerite Yourcenar](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar.md) · [Memoirs of Hadrian](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar/memoirs-of-hadrian.md) · p. 258 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar/memoirs-of-hadrian/nothing-is-slower.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Before drifting away entirely, he found himself reflecting — not for the first time — on the peculiarity of adults. They took laxatives, liquor, or sleeping pills to drive away their terrors so that sleep would come, and their terrors were so tame and domestic: the job, the money, what the teacher will think if I can't get Jennie nicer clothes, does my wife still love me, who are my friends. They were pallid compared to the fears every child lies cheek and jowl with in his dark bed, with no one to confess to in hope of perfect understanding but another child. There is no group therapy or psychiatry or community social services for the child who must cope with the thing under the bed or in the cellar every night, the thing which leers and capers and threatens just beyond the point where vision will reach. The same lonely battle must be fought night after night and the only cure is the eventual ossification of the imaginary faculties, and this is called adulthood. [Stephen King](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king.md) · [‘Salem’s Lot](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/salems-lot.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/salems-lot/before-drifting-away.md) Topics: [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md), [childhood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I am thirty-five years old, and it seems to me that I have arrived at the age of grief. Others arrive there sooner. Almost no one arrives much later. I don’t think it is years themselves, or the disintegration of the body. Most of our bodies are better taken care of and better-looking than ever. What it is, is what we know, now that in spite of ourselves we have stopped to think about it. It is not only that we know that love ends, children are stolen, parents die feeling that their lives have been meaningless. It is not only that, by this time, a lot of acquaintances and friends have died and all the others are getting ready to sooner or later. It is more that the barriers between the circumstances of oneself and of the rest of the world have broken down, after all—after all that schooling, all that care. Lord, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. But when you are thirty-three, or thirty-five, the cup must come around, cannot pass from you, and it is the same cup of pain that every mortal drinks from. Dana cried over Mrs. Hilton. My eyes filled during the nightly news. Obviously we were grieving for ourselves, but we were also thinking that if they were feeling what we were feeling, how could they stand it? We were grieving for them, too. I understand that later you come to an age of hope, or at least resignation. I suspect it takes a long time to get there. [Jane Smiley](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-smiley.md) · [The Age of Grief](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-smiley/the-age-of-grief.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-smiley/the-age-of-grief/i-am-thirty-five.md) Topics: [sadness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sadness.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > As the young reporter listens, it dawns on him that it is not the South that he longs for but the past, the South's past and his own past, neither of which, in the way that he has been driven by homesickness to think of them, ever really existed, and that it is time for him to move out of the time gone by and into the here and now — it is time for him to grow up. When the sermon is over, he goes back downtown feeling that the old man has set him free, and that he is now a citizen of the city and a citizen of the world. [Joseph Mitchell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-mitchell.md) · [Joe Gould's Secret](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-mitchell/joe-goulds-secret.md) · p. 144 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-mitchell/joe-goulds-secret/as-the-young.md) Topics: [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [longing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/longing.md) > The dysfunctions and idiosyncrasies of childhood became the self-evident norms of adulthood. [James S. A. Corey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey.md) · [Leviathan Falls](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls.md) · p. 96 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls/the-dysfunctions-and.md) Topics: [childhood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Teresa seemed older than adolescent Jim had been, both more knowledgeable about the universe and angrier with it. Maybe the two went hand in hand. [James S. A. Corey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey.md) · [Leviathan Falls](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls.md) · p. 17 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls/teresa-seemed-older.md) Topics: [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > But there were other forces at work in the cub, the greatest of which was growth. Instinct and law demanded of him obedience. But growth demanded disobedience...In the end, one day, fear and obedience were swept away by the rush of life, and the cub straddled and sprawled toward the entrance [Jack London](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london.md) · [White Fang](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london/white-fang.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london/white-fang/but-there-were.md) Topics: [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > “Wishes are for children,” Jane Chatwin said. “I grew up.” [Lev Grossman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman.md) · [The Magician's Land](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians-land.md) · p. 200 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians-land/wishes-are-for.md) Topics: [dreams and aspirations](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dreams-and-aspirations.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > When he graduated he’d thought life was going to be like a novel, starring him on his own personal hero’s journey, and that the world would provide him with an endless series of evils to triumph over and life lessons to learn. It took him a while to figure out that wasn’t how it worked. [Lev Grossman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman.md) · [The Magician's Land](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians-land.md) · p. 73 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians-land/when-he-graduated.md) Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > To be honest, Quentin felt superior to anybody who still messed around with magic. They could delude themselves if they liked, those self-indulgent magical mandarins, but he’d outgrown that stuff. He wasn’t a magician anymore, he was a man, and a man took responsibility for his actions. [Lev Grossman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman.md) · [The Magicians](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians.md) · p. 394 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians/to-be-honest.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [magic](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/magic.md) > “The problem with growing up,” Quentin said, “is that once you’re grown up, people who aren’t grown up aren’t fun anymore.” [Lev Grossman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman.md) · [The Magicians](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians.md) · p. 199 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians/the-problem-with.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I think that's the real loss of innocence: the first time you glimpse the boundaries that will limit your own potential. [Steve Toltz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz.md) · [A Fraction Of The Whole](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/i-think-thats.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [innocence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/innocence.md) > “Life was much easier before I had to worry about everyone else worrying,” Irene muttered. > > “It’s called growing up, dear. It comes with staying alive.” [Genevieve Cogman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/genevieve-cogman.md) · [The Secret Chapter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/genevieve-cogman/the-secret-chapter.md) · p. 322 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/genevieve-cogman/the-secret-chapter/life-was-much.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "I guess——" she said, wistfully—"I guess the only thing that's wrong with children is that they grow up to be people like you." [John Wyndham](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham.md) · [Jizzle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/jizzle.md) · p. 40 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/jizzle/i-guess-she.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "Was she a bit mad?" > > "Mad? Oh, no - unless you would call a failure to grow up a kind of madness - in which case there would be very few sane people." [John Wyndham](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham.md) · [Plan for Chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/plan-for-chaos.md) · p. 202 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/plan-for-chaos/was-she-a-bit.md) Topics: [madness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I felt a poignant memory of those desolate patches of disillusion which are the shocks of growing up. The discovery that one lived in a world which could pay honour where honour was not due, was just such a one. The values were rocked, the dependable was suddenly flimsy, the solid became hollow, gold turned to brass, there was no integrity anywhere . . . [John Wyndham](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham.md) · [Chocky](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/chocky.md) · p. 124 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/chocky/i-felt-a-poignant.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [honour](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honour.md), [disappointment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment.md) > Blanca argued that her reading should be monitored because there were certain things that were inappropriate for her age, but her Uncle Jaime felt that people never read what did not interest them and that if it interested them that meant they were sufficiently mature to read it. (p311) [Isabel Allende](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende.md) · [The House of the Spirits](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende/the-house-of-the-spirits.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende/the-house-of-the-spirits/blanca-argued-that.md) Topics: [reading](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > It made me miserable that I was rapidly becoming an adult and that I was unable to do anything about it. [Osamu Dazai](https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai.md) · [Schoolgirl](https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl/it-made-me-miserable.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > In time, when we became adults, we might look back on this pain and loneliness as a funny thing, perfectly ordinary, but—but how were we expected to get by, to get through this interminable period of time until that point when we were adults? There was no one to teach us how. Was there nothing to do but leave us alone, like we had the measles? But people died from the measles, or went blind. You couldn't just leave them alone. Some of us, in our daily depressions and rages, were apt to stray, to become corrupted, irreparably so, and then our lives would be forever in disorder. There were even some who would resolve to kill themselves. And when that happened, everyone would say, Oh, if only she had lived a little longer she would have known, if she were a little more grown up she would have figured it out. How saddened they would all be. But if those people were to think about it from our perspective, and see how we had tried to endure despite how terribly painful it all was, and how we had even tried to listen carefully, as hard as we could, to what the world might have to say, they would see that, in the end, the same bland lessons were always being repeated over and over, you know, well, merely to appease us. And they would see how we always experienced the same embarrassment of being ignored. > > It's not as though we only care about the present. If you were to point to a faraway mountain and say, If you can make it there, it's a pretty good view, I'd see that there's not an ounce of untruth to what you tell us. But when you say, Well, bear with it just a little longer, if you can make it to the top of that mountain, you'll have done it, you are ignoring the fact that we are suffering from a terrible stomachache—right now. Surely one of you is mistaken to let us go on this way. You're the one who is to blame. [Osamu Dazai](https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai.md) · [Schoolgirl](https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl/in-time-when.md) Topics: [loneliness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > In the eight years since his father’s death, Patrick’s youth had slipped away without being replaced by any signs of maturity, unless the tendency for sadness and exhaustion to eclipse hatred and insanity could be called ‘mature’. [Edward St Aubyn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn.md) · [Some Hope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn/some-hope.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn/some-hope/in-the-eight.md) Topics: [sadness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sadness.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Above all, he wanted to stop being a child without using the cheap disguise of becoming a parent. [Edward St Aubyn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn.md) · [Some Hope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn/some-hope.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-st-aubyn/some-hope/above-all-he-wanted.md) Topics: [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Part of manhood, I am thinking, is to ponder one’s words before opening one’s mouth. [Tad Williams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams.md) · [Stone of Farewell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/stone-of-farewell.md) · p. 297 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/stone-of-farewell/part-of-manhood.md) Topics: [words](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "...people are pretty much the same. Especially through adolescence and early adulthood. For the most part, people go through the same experiences and think the same thing, but somehow on one ever escapes the belief that his experience is unique in every conceivable way." [Nicholas Sparks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks.md) · [The Choice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/the-choice.md) · p. 111 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/the-choice/people-are-pretty.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "...once she becomes a teenager...well, sometimes there's nothing you can do. With or without you, in the end, children grow up to become the people they were meant to be." [Nicholas Sparks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks.md) · [At First Sight](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/at-first-sight.md) · p. 196 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/at-first-sight/once-she-becomes.md) Topics: [children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on. It's perfectly normal." [Nicholas Sparks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks.md) · [True Believer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/true-believer.md) · p. 113 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/true-believer/i-think-it-happens.md) Topics: [friendship](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/friendship.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > In her new, more mature incarnation, she embraced the idea that maturity meant thinking about risk long before you pondered the reward, and that success and happiness in life were as much about avoiding mistakes as making your mark in the world. [Nicholas Sparks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks.md) · [True Believer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/true-believer.md) · p. 205 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/true-believer/in-her-new.md) Topics: [risk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/risk.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "I don't want to be a grown-up. … Because grown-ups always say that things are complicated." [Nicholas Sparks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks.md) · [A Bend In The Road](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/a-bend-in-the-road.md) · p. 336 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/a-bend-in-the-road/i-dont-want.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > The answer can't be found in books — or be solved by bringing it to other people. Not unless you want to remain a child all your life. You've got to find the answer inside you — feel the right thing to do. [Daniel Keyes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes.md) · [Flowers For Algernon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon/the-answer-cant.md) Topics: [self-knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I've got to grow up. For me it means everything... [Daniel Keyes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes.md) · [Flowers For Algernon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon/ive-got-to-grow.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I thought it was normal, that’s the thing. When you’re little you think everything is normal. If your mother had a pointed head and green ears you’d think it’s normal. Only when you grow up do you realise that not everybody is like that. Gradually you can even come to learn that the time you are living in is strange too, that it hasn’t always been like this. The more you feel uncomfortable and unconfident and want to find a way to be like everyone else and fit in, the more normality runs away from you because there isn’t any such thing. Or if there is, you have to find someone else who’ll agree with you what it is. Which I seem singularly unable to do. [Jane Rogers](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-rogers.md) · [The Testament of Jessie Lamb](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-rogers/the-testament-of-jessie-lamb.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-rogers/the-testament-of-jessie-lamb/i-thought-it-was.md) Topics: [conformity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > When you’re a kid, a rural, agriculturally-based colony town is a lot of fun to grow up in. It’s life on a farm, with goats and chickens and fields of wheat and sorghum, harvest celebrations and winter festivals. There’s not an eight- or nine-year-old kid who’s been invented who doesn’t find all of that unspeakably fun. But then you become a teenager and you start thinking about everything you might possibly want to do with your life, and you look at the options available to you. And then all farms, goats and chickens—and all the same people you’ve known all your life and will know all your life—begin to look a little less than optimal for a total life experience. It’s all the same, of course. That’s the point. It’s you who’s changed. [John Scalzi](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi.md) · [Zoe's Tale](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi/zoes-tale.md) · p. 27 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi/zoes-tale/when-youre-a-kid.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > At a certain age children are greatly intrigued by the possibility of locating themselves on a map. It appears strange that one's familiar life should actually have all occurred in an area delineated by a set of quite impersonal (and hitherto unfamiliar) coordinates on the surface of the map. The child's exclamations of "I was there" and "I am here right now" betray the astonishment that the place of last summer's vacation, a place marked in memory by such sharply personal events as the ownership of one's first dog or the secret assembling of a collection of worms, should have specific latitudes and longitudes devised by strangers to one's dog, one's worms, and oneself. This locating of oneself in configurations conceived by strangers is one of the important aspects of what, perhaps euphemistically, is called "growing up". One participates in the real world of grown-ups by having an address. The child who only recently might have mailed a letter addressed "To my Granddaddy" now informs a fellow worm-collector of his exact address – street, town, state and all – and finds his tentative allegiance to the grown-up world view dramatically legitimated by the arrival of the letter. [Peter L. Berger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-l-berger.md) · [Invitation to Sociology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-l-berger/invitation-to-sociology.md) · p. 81 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-l-berger/invitation-to-sociology/at-a-certain.md) Topics: [childhood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I’d come down sick. (I had. It was called adolescence, an evil, evil disease.) [N. K. Jemisin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin.md) · [The Kingdom Of Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods.md) · p. 170 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/id-come-down.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > That was the way of things, after all. Children had to grow up. They did not always become what others wanted. [N. K. Jemisin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin.md) · [The Kingdom Of Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods.md) · p. 166 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/that-was-the.md) Topics: [children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > The child in her wanted to do as she pleased, cling to impossible hopes. The woman in her wanted to make sound decisions, succeed even if it meant sacrifice. The woman would win; that was inevitable. But the child would not go quietly. [N. K. Jemisin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin.md) · [The Kingdom Of Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods.md) · p. 173 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/the-child-in-her.md) Topics: [choices](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/choices.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Well. Adolescence is all about making mistakes. [N. K. Jemisin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin.md) · [The Kingdom Of Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods.md) · p. 200 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/well-adolescence-is-all.md) Topics: [mistakes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > We are not the adults in the sense that Kant intended, but adolescents. This is a problem, because we are the world's most heavily armed teenagers. [Laura Penny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/laura-penny.md) · [More Money Than Brains](https://www.leafyquotes.com/laura-penny/more-money-than-brains.md) · p. 58 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/laura-penny/more-money-than-brains/we-are-not.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > She was intelligent enough to realize that her excitement was childish, but not mature enough to care. [China Miéville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville.md) · [Perdido Street Station](https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/perdido-street-station.md) · p. 36 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/perdido-street-station/she-was-intelligent.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > What’s the point of our living all these centuries if we haven’t grown up even a little? [Poul Anderson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson.md) · [The Boat of a Million Years](https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years.md) · p. 482 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years/whats-the-point.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "What about it, Meta?" he snapped. "No doubts? Do you think that destruction is the only way to end this war?" > > "I don't know," she said. "I can't be sure. For the first time in my life I find myself with more than one answer to the same question." > > "Congratulations," he said. "It's a sign of growing up." [Harry Harrison](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-harrison.md) · [Deathworld](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-harrison/deathworld.md) · p. 113 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-harrison/deathworld/what-about-it-meta.md) Topics: [doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Children grow up and discover that the world is not as it seemed within the four walls of their homes. Humankind as a whole does the same. [Carlo Rovelli](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carlo-rovelli.md) · [The Order of Time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carlo-rovelli/the-order-of-time.md) · p. 11 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carlo-rovelli/the-order-of-time/children-grow-up-and.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > As a coping mechanism for teenage me, masking was an incredibly successful tactic – I was only bullied intermittently during my school years – but as a catalyst for growth, it worked more like castration. [Hannah Gadsby](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-gadsby.md) · [Ten Steps to Nanette](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-gadsby/ten-steps-to-nanette.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-gadsby/ten-steps-to-nanette/as-a-coping.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [authenticity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity.md) > Harry Dresden: We still hadn't learned, though, that growing up is all about getting hurt. And then getting over it. You hurt. You recover. You move on. Odds are pretty good you're just going to get hurt again. But each time, you learn something. Each time, you come out of it a little stronger, and at some point you realize that there are more flavors of pain than coffee. There's the little empty pain of leaving something behind-graduating, taking the next step forward, walking out of something familiar and safe into the unknown. There's the big, whirling pain of life upending all of your plans and expectations. There's the sharp little pains of failure, and the more obscure aches of successes that didn't give you what you thought they would. There are the vicious, stabbing pains of hopes being torn up. The sweet little pains of finding others, giving them your love, and taking joy in their life as they grow and learn. There's the steady pain of empathy that you shrug off so you can stand beside a wounded friend and help them bear their burdens. [Jim Butcher](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher.md) · [White Night](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher/white-night.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher/white-night/harry-dresden-we-still.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Even in a fantasy realm, growing up is accomplished not without cost. [Lloyd Alexander](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander.md) · [The Black Cauldron](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/the-black-cauldron.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/the-black-cauldron/even-in-a-fantasy.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are. [Lloyd Alexander](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander.md) · [The Castle of Llyr](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/the-castle-of-llyr.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/the-castle-of-llyr/child-child-do-you.md) Topics: [courage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "I don't want to be a man. I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead." [Cassandra Clare](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare.md) · [City of Ashes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare/city-of-ashes.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare/city-of-ashes/i-dont-want.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > That wouldn’t be maturity; it would be letting an expert system make your decisions for you. Maturity means seeing the differences, but realizing they don’t matter. There’s no technological shortcut. [Ted Chiang](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang.md) · [Stories of Your Life and Others](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang/stories-of-your-life-and-others.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang/stories-of-your-life-and-others/that-wouldnt-be-maturity.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > All at once I liked him, his firm grace with others, his unlikely modesty, the exotic parties he attended. The desire to befriend him came over me suddenly and certainly, and, as I debated and decided not to shake his hand again, I thought how suddenness and certainty had attended all my childhood friendships, until that long, miserable moment of puberty during which I'd been afraid to befriend boys and seemingly unable to befriend girls. [Michael Chabon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-chabon.md) · [The Mysteries of Pittsburgh](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-chabon/the-mysteries-of-pittsburgh.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-chabon/the-mysteries-of-pittsburgh/all-at-once.md) Topics: [friendship](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/friendship.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > But then, growing up was not supposed to be easy. One Mom remarked offhandedly, “It’s the toughest work you’ll ever do.” [Gregory Benford](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford.md) · [Beyond Infinity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity/but-then-growing.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > What does it really mean when such a young person moves to another phyle? It means that they have outgrown youthful credulity and no longer wish to belong to a tribe simply because it is the path of least resistance—they have developed principle, they are concerned with their personal integrity. [Neal Stephenson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson.md) · [The Diamond Age](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/what-does-it-really.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [integrity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/integrity.md) > But after the intimacy-inducing rituals of puberty, boys who would be men are told we must go it alone, we must achieve our heroism as the Lone Ranger, we must see the other men as threats to our masculine mastery, as objects of competition. [Frank Pittman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman.md) · [Man Enough](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman/man-enough.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman/man-enough/but-after-the.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [masculinity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/masculinity.md), [rivalry](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rivalry.md) > "...No one can stop children in love unless by exile. But you'll never grow up if you don't let go of each other." (Malkah, six: WE KNOW TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE) [Marge Piercy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy.md) · [He, She and It](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy/he-she-and-it.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy/he-she-and-it/no-one-can.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability. [Madeleine L’Engle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle.md) · [Walking on Water](https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle/walking-on-water.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle/walking-on-water/when-we-were.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I became a man by becoming a public man. [Richard Rodriguez](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez.md) · [Hunger of Memory](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory/i-became-a-man.md) Topics: [identity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I read once, somewhere, that the way you know you've grown up is when your future death becomes a stone in your shoe: when you feel it with every step. [Matthew Stover](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover.md) · [Blade of Tyshalle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle.md) · p. 23 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle/i-read-once.md) Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but — I hope — into a better shape. [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [Great Expectations](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/great-expectations.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/great-expectations/suffering-has-been.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Disillusionment, pain, unpleasant surprise, all were part of growing up. [Sheri S. Tepper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper.md) · [Marianne, the Madame, and the Momentary Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/marianne-the-madame-and-the-momentary-gods.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/marianne-the-madame-and-the-momentary-gods/disillusionment-pain-unpleasant.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [disappointment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment.md) > Helpless lust and unreasoning anxiety were just part of growing up. [Octavia E. Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler.md) · [Imago](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/imago.md) · p. 649 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/imago/helpless-lust-and.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [sexual desire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sexual-desire.md) > A tree > > Cannot grow > > In its parents’ shadows. [Octavia E. Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler.md) · [Parable of the Sower](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower.md) · p. 82 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/a-tree-cannot.md) Topics: [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md), [independence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > 'And, at the risk of losing forever your so remarkably candid friendship, let me tell you something. Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford, and you are not that young any more.' [James Baldwin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin.md) · [Giovanni's Room](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin/giovannis-room.md) · p. 36 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin/giovannis-room/and-at-the.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > No one grows up. That’s one of the sickest lies they ever tell you. People change. People compromise. People get stranded in situations they don’t want to be in… and they make the best of it. But don’t try to tell me it’s some kind of… glorious preordained ascent into emotional maturity. It’s not. [Greg Egan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-egan.md) · [Distress](https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-egan/distress.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-egan/distress/no-one-grows.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > "For most people, self-awareness and self-pity blossom simultaneously in early adolescence. It's about that time that we start viewing the world as something other than a whoop-de-doo playground, we start to experience personally how threatening it can be, how cruel and unjust. At the very moment when we become, for the first time, both introspective and socially conscientious, we receive the bad news that the world, by and large, doesn't give a rat's ass." [Tom Robbins](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins.md) · [Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates/for-most-people.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Puberty was there, but not intelligence, and manhood was stealing on him, as it always must, in a trance. [E.M. Forster](https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster.md) · [Maurice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster/maurice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster/maurice/puberty-was-there.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > 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](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-fry.md) · [Moab Is My Washpot](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-fry/moab-is-my-washpot.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-fry/moab-is-my-washpot/didnt-woody-allen.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [idealism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/idealism.md) > At the opening of the Odyssey, Telemachus, inspired by the male-born Athena, searches for his father by turning against his mother. Jesus too publicly spurns his mother to be about his father’s business. Male adulthood begins with the breaking of female chains. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sexual Personae](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae.md) · p. 89 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/at-the-opening.md) Topics: [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Childhood is that time in which we never question the fact that every adult act is not only an autonomous occurrence in the universe, but that it is also filled, packed, overflowing with meaning, whether that meaning works for ill or good, whether the ill or good is or is not comprehended. > > Adulthood is that time in which we see that all human actions follow forms, whether well or badly, and it is the perseverance of the forms that is, whether for better or worse, their meaning. > > Various cultures make the transition at various ages, which transition period lasts for varying lengths of time, one accomplishing it in a week with careful dances, ancient prayers, and isolate and specified rituals; another, letting it take its own course, offering no help for it, and allowing it to run on frequently for years. But at the center of the changeover there is a period—whether it be a moment’s vision or a year-long suspicion—where the maturing youth sees all adult behavior as merely formal and totally meaningless. [Samuel R. Delany](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany.md) · [Tales of Neveryon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/tales-of-neveryon.md) · p. 114 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/tales-of-neveryon/childhood-is-that.md) Topics: [childhood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > By the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no hurry. We shall get there some day." [A.A. Milne](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aa-milne.md) · [The House at Pooh Corner](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aa-milne/the-house-at-pooh-corner.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aa-milne/the-house-at-pooh-corner/by-the-time.md) Topics: [patience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/patience.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > A Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die. [Philip Roth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth.md) · [Portnoy's Complaint](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/portnoys-complaint.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/portnoys-complaint/a-jewish-man.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I think the major problem in growing up is to become sophisticated without becoming cynical. [Robert A. Heinlein](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein.md) · [I Will Fear No Evil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/i-will-fear-no-evil.md) · p. 473 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/i-will-fear-no-evil/i-think-the.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [cynicism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cynicism.md) > Then came those years in which I was forced to recognize the existence of a drive within me that had to make itself small and hide from the world of light. The slowly awakening sense of my own sexuality overcame me, as it does every person, like an enemy and terrorist, as something forbidden, tempting, and sinful. What my curiosity sought, what dreams, lust and fear created — the great secret of puberty — did not fit at all into my sheltered childhood. I behaved like everyone else. I led the double life of a child who is no longer a child. My conscious self lived within the familiar and sanctioned world; it denied the new world that dawned within me. Side by side with this I lived in a world of dreams, drives and desires of a chthonic nature, across which my conscious self desperately built its fragile bridges, for the childhood world within me was falling apart. Like most parents, mine were no help with the new problems of puberty, to which no reference was ever made. All they did was take endless trouble in supporting my hopeless attempts to deny reality and to continue dwelling in a childhood world that was becoming more and more unreal. I have no idea whether parents can be of help, and I do not blame mine. It was my own affair to come to terms with myself and to find my own way, and like most well-brought-up children, I managed it badly. [Hermann Hesse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse.md) · [Demian](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian.md) · p. 135 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian/then-came-those.md) Topics: [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. The God's name is Abraxas. [Hermann Hesse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse.md) · [Demian](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian.md) · p. 166 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian/the-bird-fights.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Now everything changed. My childhood world was breaking apart around me. My parents eyed me with a certain embarrassment. My sisters had become strangers to me. A disenchantment falsified and blunted my usual feelings and joys: the garden lacked fragrance, the woods held no attraction for me, the world stood around me like a clearance sale of last year's secondhand goods, insipid, all its charm gone. Books were so much paper, music a grating noise. That is the way leaves fall around a tree in autumn, a tree unaware of the rain running down its sides, of the sun or the frost, and of life gradually retreating inward. The tree does not die. It waits. [Hermann Hesse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse.md) · [Demian](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian.md) · p. 149 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian/now-everything-changed.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [disappointment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment.md) > “Maturity,” Bokonon tells us, “is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.” [Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md) · [Cat's Cradle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/maturity-bokonon-tells.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [disappointment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment.md), [laughter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/laughter.md) > Conversion is in its essence a normal adolescent phenomenon, incidental to the passage from the child's small universe to the wider intellectual and spiritual life of maturity. [William James](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james.md) · [The Varieties of Religious Experience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/conversion-is-in-its.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Maybe he's growing up. > > Or maybe he just needed the right circumstances to discover the best in himself. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [The Ships Of Earth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-ships-of-earth.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-ships-of-earth/maybe-hes-growing.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Keep me alive. Keep me alive long enough for me to conquer the animal within myself. Long enough for me to learn to partner myself with a woman who is better and stronger than me. Long enough for me to reconcile myself with my brothers. Long enough to be as good a man as my father, and as good as my mother, too. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [The Call Of Earth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-call-of-earth.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-call-of-earth/keep-me-alive.md) Topics: [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > It was his father who had shrunk, who no longer had the power of the giant, of the god, to enfold him and keep him safe. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Enchantment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/enchantment.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/enchantment/it-was-his.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [father](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father.md) > The world is always full of brilliant youth which fades into grey and embittered middle age: the first flowering takes everything. The great men are those who have developed slowly, or who have been able to survive the glamour of their early florescence and to go on learning from life. [Willa Cather](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather.md) · [Not Under Forty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/not-under-forty.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/not-under-forty/the-world-is-always.md) Topics: [youth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [genius](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius.md) > Love is at first not anything that means merging, giving over and uniting with another (for what would a union be of something unclarified and unfinished, still subordinate?), it is a high inducement to the individual to ripen, to become world, to become world for himself for another's sake. It is a great exacting claim upon him, something that chooses him out and calls him to vast things. [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rainer-maria-rilke.md) · [Letters to a Young Poet](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet/love-is-at-first.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > The demands which the difficult work of love makes upon our development are more than life-size, and as beginners we are not up to them. But if we nevertheless hold out and take this love upon us as burden and apprenticeship, instead of losing ourselves in all the light and frivolous play, behind which people have hidden from the most earnest earnestness of their existence — then a little progress and alleviation will perhaps be perceptible to those who come long after us; that would be much. [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rainer-maria-rilke.md) · [Letters to a Young Poet](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet/the-demands-which.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I'm seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I'm about thirteen. It's really ironical, because I'm six foot two and a half and I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head — the right side — is full of millions of gray hairs. I've had them ever since I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve. Everybody says that, especially my father. It's partly true, too, but it isn't all true. People always think something's all true. [J.D. Salinger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger.md) · [The Catcher in the Rye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/im-seventeen-now.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I'll be all right. I'm just going through a phase right now. Everybody goes through phases and all, don't they? [J.D. Salinger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger.md) · [The Catcher in the Rye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/ill-be-all.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > I don't give a damn, except that I get bored sometimes when people tell me to act my age. Sometimes I act a lot older than I am — I really do — but people never notice it. People never notice anything. [J.D. Salinger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger.md) · [The Catcher in the Rye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/i-dont-give.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. [J.D. Salinger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger.md) · [The Catcher in the Rye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/the-mark-of-the.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [sacrifice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice.md) > "Adults intellectually and during working hours," he went on. "Infants where feeling and desire are concerned." > > "Our Ford loved infants." > > Ignoring the interruption. "It suddenly struck me the other day," continued Bernard, "that it might be possible to be an adult all the time." [Aldous Huxley](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley.md) · [Brave New World](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world/adults-intellectually-and.md) Topics: [emotions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > When I grow up I want to be a little boy. [Joseph Heller](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller.md) · [SOMETHING HAPPENED](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller/something-happened.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller/something-happened/when-i-grow.md) Topics: [childhood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > One of the most terrible moments in a boy's life ... is when he discovers his father and mother are human beings who share a love that he can never quite taste. It's a loss, an awakening to the fact that the world is there and here and we are in it alone. The moment carries its own truth; you can't evade it. [Frank Herbert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert.md) · [Dune](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/one-of-the.md) Topics: [loneliness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness.md), [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > There is probably no more terrible instance of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man — with human flesh. [Frank Herbert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert.md) · [Dune](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/there-is-probably.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md), [father](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father.md) > There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else. Jill Boardman encountered her personal challenge — and accepted it — at 3:47 that afternoon. [Robert A. Heinlein](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein.md) · [Stranger in a Strange Land](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land/there-comes-a-time.md) Topics: [risk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/risk.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > The true course of nature is slower and more gradual. Little by little the blood grows warmer, the faculties expand, the character is formed. The wise workman who directs the process is careful to perfect every tool before he puts it to use; the first desires are preceded by a long period of unrest, they are deceived by a prolonged ignorance, they know not what they want. The blood ferments and bubbles; overflowing vitality seeks to extend its sphere. The eye grows brighter and surveys others, we begin to be interested in those about us, we begin to feel that we are not meant to live alone; thus the heart is thrown open to human affection, and becomes capable of attachment. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/the-true-course.md) Topics: [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > We are born, so to speak, twice over; born into existence, and born into life; born a human being, and born a man. Those who regard woman as an imperfect man are no doubt mistaken, but they have external resemblance on their side. Up to the age of puberty children of both sexes have little to distinguish them to the eye, the same face and form, the same complexion and voice, everything is the same; girls are children and boys are children; one name is enough for creatures so closely resembling one another. Males whose development is arrested preserve this resemblance all their lives; they are always big children; and women who never lose this resemblance seem in many respects never to be more than children. But, speaking generally, man is not meant to remain a child. He leaves childhood behind him at the time ordained by nature; and this critical moment, short enough in itself, has far-reaching consequences. As the roaring of the waves precedes the tempest, so the murmur of rising passions announces this tumultuous change; a suppressed excitement warns us of the approaching danger. A change of temper, frequent outbreaks of anger, a perpetual stirring of the mind, make the child almost ungovernable. He becomes deaf to the voice he used to obey; he is a lion in a fever; he distrusts his keeper and refuses to be controlled. > > With the moral symptoms of a changing temper there are perceptible changes in appearance. His countenance develops and takes the stamp of his character; the soft and sparse down upon his cheeks becomes darker and stiffer. His voice grows hoarse or rather he loses it altogether. He is neither a child nor a man and cannot speak like either of them. His eyes, those organs of the soul which till now were dumb, find speech and meaning; a kindling fire illumines them, there is still a sacred innocence in their ever brightening glance, but they have lost their first meaningless expression; he is already aware that they can say too much; he is beginning to learn to lower his eyes and blush, he is becoming sensitive, though he does not know what it is that he feels; he is uneasy without knowing why. All this may happen gradually and give you time enough; but if his keenness becomes impatience, his eagerness madness, if he is angry and sorry all in a moment, if he weeps without cause, if in the presence of objects which are beginning to be a source of danger his pulse quickens and his eyes sparkle, if he trembles when a woman's hand touches his, if he is troubled or timid in her presence, O Ulysses, wise Ulysses! have a care! The passages you closed with so much pains are open; the winds are unloosed; keep your hand upon the helm or all is lost. > > This is the second birth I spoke of; then it is that man really enters upon life; henceforth no human passion is a stranger to him. Our efforts so far have been child's play, now they are of the greatest importance. This period when education is usually finished is just the time to begin. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/we-are-born-so.md) Topics: [passion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/passion.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > He thinks not of others but of himself, and prefers that others should do the same. He makes no claim upon them, and acknowledges no debt to them. He is alone in the midst of human society, he depends on himself alone, for he is all that a boy can be at his age. He has no errors, or at least only such as are inevitable; he has no vices, or only those from which no man can escape. His body is healthy, his limbs are supple, his mind is accurate and unprejudiced, his heart is free and untroubled by passion. Pride, the earliest and the most natural of passions, has scarcely shown itself. Without disturbing the peace of others, he has passed his life contented, happy, and free, so far as nature allows. Do you think that the earlier years of a child, who has reached his fifteenth year in this condition, have been wasted? [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/he-thinks-not.md) Topics: [independence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md) > Every age, every station in life, has a perfection, a ripeness, of its own. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/every-age-every.md) Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md), [growing up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up.md)