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Youth: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Young men soon give and soon forget affronts; Old age is slow in both.— ADDISON — Cato. Act II. Sc. 5.
Youth dreams a bliss on this side death. It dreams a rest, if not more deep, More grateful than this marble sleep; It hears a voice within it tell : Calm's not life's crown, though calm is well. 'Tis all perhaps which man acquires, But 'tis not what our youth desires.— MATTHEW ARNOLD — Youth and Calm. L. 19.
Young men are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and fitter for new projects than for settled business.— BACON — Of Youth and Age.
No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 99.
Show you sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me. Julius Cæsar. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 229. The private wound is deepest: O time most accurs'd 'Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst.— Shakespeare — Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act V. Sc. 4. L. 71.
The wound of peace is surety, Surety secure.— Shakespeare — Troilus and Cressida. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 14.
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?— Shakespeare — Othello. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 377.
The insect-youth are on the wing, Eager to taste the honied spring, And float amid the liquid noon!— GRAY — Ode on the Spring. St. 3. L. 5.
There is a feeling of Eternity in youth which makes us amends for everything. Te be young is to be as one of the Immortals.— HAZLITT — Table Talk. The Feeling of
Immortality in Youth. Ah, youth! forever dear, forever kind.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. XIX. L. 303.
Pope's trans. Youth! youth! how buoyant are thy hopes! they turn, Like marigolds, toward the sunny side.— JEAN INGELOW — The Four Bridges. St. 56.
Towering in confidence of twenty-one.— SAM'L JOHNSON — Letter to Bennet
Langton. Jan., 1758. How beautiful is youth! how bright it gleams With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! Book of Beginnings, Story without End, Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend!— LONGFELLOW — Morituri Salutamus. L. 66.
In its sublime audacity of faith, "Be thou removed!" it to the mountain saith, And with ambitious feet, secure and proud, Ascends the ladder leaning on the cloud! LONGFELLOw-Morituri Salutamus. Standing with reluctant feet, Where the brook and river meet, Womanhood and childhood fleet! T.— LONGFELLOW — Maidenhood.
Youth comes but once in a lifetime.— S. LONGFELLOW — Hyperion. Bk. II. Ch. X.
Every street has two sides, the shady side and the sunny. When two men shake hands and part, mark which of the two takes the sunny side; he will be the younger man of the two.— BULWER-LYTTON — What Will He Do With It? Bk. II. Heading of Ch. XV.
Youth, that pursuest with such eager pace Thy even way, Thou pantest on to win a mournful race: Then stay! oh, stay! Pause and luxuriate in thy sunny plain; Loiter, enjoy: Once past, Thou never wilt come back again, A second Boy.— RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES — Carpe
Diem. 'Tis now the summer of your youth: time has not cropped the roses from your cheek, though sorrow long has washed them.— EDWARD MOORE — The Gamester. Act III. Sc. 4.
The smiles, the tears Of boyhood's years, The words of love then spoken.— MOORE — Oft in the Stilly Night.
We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.— POPE — Essay on Criticism. Pt. II. L. 238.
When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one.— POPE — Epistle I. Bk. I. L. 38.
Crabbed age and youth cannot live together; Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee; youth I do adore thee. The Passionate Pilgrim. St. 12. For youth no less becomes The light and careless livery that it wears, Than settled age his sables, and his weeds Importing health and graveness.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act IV. Sc. 7. L. 79.
Is in the very May-morn of his youth, Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.— Shakespeare — Henry V. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 120.
My salad days; When I was green in judgment.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 73.
The spirit of a youth That means to be of note, begins betimes. in— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act IV. Sc.4. L. 26.
Prima commendatio proficiscitur a modestiâ, tum pietate in parentes, tum in suos benevolentiâ. The chief recommendation [in a young man] is modesty, then dutiful conduct toward parents, then affection for kindred.— CICERO — De Officiis. II. 13.
Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquam Viribus. Ye who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities.— HORACE — Ars Poetica. XXXVIII.
Tantum series juncturaque pollet. Of so much force are system and connec tion.— HORACE — Ars Poetica. 242.
ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit, Aut humana parum cavit natura. Where there are many beauties in a poem I shall not cavil at a few faults proceeding either from negligence or from the imperfection of our nature.— HORACE — Ars Poetica. 351.
Tenet insanabile multo Scribendi cacoëthes, et ægro in corde senescit. An incurable itch for scribbling takes possession of many, and grows inveterate in their insane breasts.— JUVENAL — Satiræ. VII. 51.
Præbet mihi littera linguam: Et, si non liceat scribere, mutus ero. This letter gives me a tongue; and were I not allowed to write, I should be dumb.— OVID — Epistolæ Ex Ponto. II. 6. 3.
Scripta ferunt annos; scriptis Agamemnona nosti, Et quisquis contra vel simul arma tulit. Writings survive the years; it is by writings that you know Agamemnon, and those who fought for or against him.— OVID — Epistolæ Ex Ponto. IV. 8. 51.
Non est aliena res, quæ fere ab honestis negligi solet, cura bene ac velociter scribendi. Men of quality are in the wrong to undervalue, as they often do, the practise of a fair and quick hand in writing; for it is no immaterial accomplishment.— QUINTILIAN — De Institutione Oratoria.
I. 5. Teneris, heu, lubrica moribus ætas! Alas! the slippery nature of tender youth.— CLAUDIANUS — De Raptu Proserpinæ.
III. 227. Dissimiles hic vir, et ille puer. How different from the present man was the youth of earlier days i— OVID — Heroides. IX. 24.