Quotes about childhood

„Before you judge me, try hard to love me,
Look within your heart then ask,
Have you seen my childhood?“

—  Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter and dancer 1958 - 2009

HIStory: Past, Present & Future, Book I (1995)

„You have given the great honour … to hundreds of millions of children in the world who are deprived of their childhood and health and education, and fundamental right to freedom. It is a great moment for all those children.“

—  Kailash Satyarthi Indian children's rights activist 1954

Interview with Nobel Media (2014)
Context: You have given the great honour … to hundreds of millions of children in the world who are deprived of their childhood and health and education, and fundamental right to freedom. It is a great moment for all those children. … I am quite hopeful and rather sure that this will help in giving bigger visibility and attention to the cause of children who are most neglected and most deprived. This will also inspire individuals, activists, governments, business houses, corporate to work hand in hand to fight this out. And I am quite hopeful about it, that the recognition of this issue will help in mobilising bigger support for the cause.

„Even in childhood I watched the hours flow, independent of any reference, any action, any event, the disjunction of time from what was not itself, its autonomous existence, its special status, its empire, its tyranny. I remember quite clearly that afternoon when, for the first time, confronting the empty universe, I was no more than a passage of moments reluctant to go on playing their proper parts. Time was coming unstuck from being — at my expense.“

—  Emil M. Cioran, book The Trouble With Being Born

The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

„Childhood is over when you know you’re gonna die.“

—  James O'Barr, The Crow

Source: The Crow

„Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.“

—  Bob Marley Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician 1945 - 1981

„It's not gray," Clary felt compelled to point out. "It's green."
"If there was such a thing as terminal literalism, you'd have died in childhood," said Jace.“

—  Cassandra Clare, book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

„Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.“

—  Stephen King, book It

Variant: And almost idly, in a kind of sidethought, Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Source: It (1986)

„Genius is the recovery of childhood at will.“

—  Arthur Rimbaud French Decadent and Symbolist poet 1854 - 1891

„From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw —“

—  Edgar Allan Poe American author, poet, editor and literary critic 1809 - 1849

" Alone http://gothlupin.tripod.com/valone.html", l. 1-8 (written 1829, published 1875).
Context: From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring —
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow — I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone —
And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone

„Childhood is the world of miracle and wonder; as if creation rose, bathed in the light, out of the darkness, utterly new and fresh and astonishing. The end of childhood is when things cease to astonish us.“

—  Eugéne Ionesco Romanian playwright 1909 - 1994

„Children are tough, though we tend to think of them as fragile. They have to be tough. Childhood is not easy.“

—  Maurice Sendak American illustrator and writer of children's books 1928 - 2012

As quoted in "The Paternal Pride of Maurice Sendak" by Bernard Holland, in The New York Times (8 November 1987) http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DC103CF93BA35752C1A961948260&scp=2&sq=Sendak+protecting&st=nyt
Context: Children are tough, though we tend to think of them as fragile. They have to be tough. Childhood is not easy. We sentimentalize children, but they know what's real and what's not. They understand metaphor and symbol. If children are different from us, they are more spontaneous. Grown-up lives have become overlaid with dross.

„Everything is ceremony in the wild garden of childhood.“

—  Pablo Neruda Chilean poet 1904 - 1973

„It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary… to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.“

—  Margaret Mead American anthropologist 1901 - 1978

As quoted in Teacher's Treasury of Stories for Every Occasion (1958) by Millard Dale Baughman, p. 69
1950s

„I have not lost my faith; and this I must attribute more to a miracle than to my own wisdom; more to Divine Providence than to my own virtue. Steadfastly, in fact from my earliest childhood, I have made this my prayer, "Lord God… grant me long life, and wisdom, and health of mind and body."“

—  Girolamo Cardano Italian Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer 1501 - 1576

The Book of My Life (1930)

„For me, childhood roaming was what developed self-reliance, a sense of direction and adventure, imagination, a will to explore, to be able to get a little lost and then figure out the way back.“

—  Rebecca Solnit Author and essayist from United States 1961

Source: A Field Guide to Getting Lost

„About the only power you have is the power to discriminate. Living in a culture like this, you have to make choices and search out what has the most authentic content or substance. In the 1960s, while on LSD, I realized that my mind was a garbage receptacle of mass media images and input. I spent my whole childhood absorbing so much crap that my personality and mind are saturated with it. God only knows if that affects you physically! As a kid I became increasingly interested in earlier periods of culture. I turned into a little nostalgia boy, and I became steeped in the Our Gang fantasy from watching them on TV. So much so, that my speech patterns were affected. The style of those Our Gang comedies was so charming that I started acting and talking like Jackie Cooper and Alfalfa. They had these cute kids, artificial mannerisms. It must have been embarrassing for people to hear me talk like that.“

—  Robert Crumb American cartoonist 1943

The R. Crumb Handbook by Robert Crumb and Peter Poplaski (2005), p. 60

„I was personally concerned and involved in child rights-related activities right from my childhood.“

—  Kailash Satyarthi Indian children's rights activist 1954

Statement of 2011, as quoted in "Q&A: Kailash Satyarthi Winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2014" in The Wall Street Journal (10 October 2014) http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/10/10/qa-kailash-satyarthi-winner-of-nobel-peace-prize-2014/
Context: I was personally concerned and involved in child rights-related activities right from my childhood. Then over a period of time I realized that it is not possible that one person can make substantial change; so it is necessary to build an organization of like minded people and sensitize other people to join. I knew right from the beginning that child labor is not just a technical or legal issue and also not merely an economic issue. It’s a combination of several things. It’s a deep-rooted social evil and to wipe it out we have to build a strong movement. Bachpan Bachao Andolan has never been a typical NGO but it has emerged as a movement over a period of time.

„Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness.“

—  H.P. Lovecraft American author 1890 - 1937

„If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.“

—  Peter Handke Austrian writer, playwright and film director 1942