
„Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness.“
— H.P. Lovecraft American author 1890 - 1937
A collection of quotes on the topic of adulthood, childhood, life, likeness.
„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
„Genius is the recovery of childhood at will.“
— Arthur Rimbaud French Decadent and Symbolist poet 1854 - 1891
„The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood“
— Richard Paul Evans, book The Christmas Box
Source: The Christmas Box
„Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.“
— Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
Time Enough for Love (1973)
„It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.“
— Rainer Maria Rilke Austrian poet and writer 1875 - 1926
„The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.“
— Plutarch ancient Greek historian and philosopher 46 - 127
„Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recaptured at will.“
— Charles Baudelaire French poet 1821 - 1867
Le peintre de la vie moderne (1863), III: “L’artiste, homme du monde, homme des foules et enfant”
Variant: Genius is nothing but youth recaptured.
Source: The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays
„There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.“
— Henry Ward Beecher American clergyman and activist 1813 - 1887
Total 692 quotes childhood, filter:
— Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter and dancer 1958 - 2009
HIStory: Past, Present & Future, Book I (1995)
„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
— Jiddu Krishnamurti Indian spiritual philosopher 1895 - 1986
Source: 1980s, That Benediction is Where You Are (1985), p. 18
Context: From childhood we are trained to have problems. When we are sent to school, we have to learn how to write, how to read, and all the rest of it. How to write becomes a problem to the child. Please follow this carefully. Mathematics becomes a problem, history becomes a problem, as does chemistry. So the child is educated, from childhood, to live with problems — the problem of God, problem of a dozen things. So our brains are conditioned, trained, educated to live with problems. From childhood we have done this. What happens when a brain is educated in problems? It can never solve problems; it can only create more problems. When a brain that is trained to have problems, and to live with problems, solves one problem, in the very solution of that problem, it creates more problems. From childhood we are trained, educated to live with problems and, therefore, being centred in problems, we can never solve any problem completely. It is only the free brain that is not conditioned to problems that can solve problems. It is one of our constant burdens to have problems all the time. Therefore our brains are never quiet, free to observe, to look. So we are asking: Is it possible not to have a single problem but to face problems? But to understand those problems, and to totally resolve them, the brain must be free.
„I never stole in my childhood, so there was no question of apologising to my father.“
— Nathuram Godse Assassin of Mahatma Gandhi 1910 - 1949
Godse referring to Gandhi's autobiographical story, where Gandhi stole a piece of gold from his father's watch and later on apologised to his father
Excerpts from the play Mee Nathuram Godse boltoy
— Albert Einstein German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity 1879 - 1955
Found in Montana Libraries: Volumes 8-14 (1954), p. cxxx http://books.google.com/books?id=PpwaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22more+fairy+tales%22#search_anchor. The story is given as follows: "In the current New Mexico Library Bulletin, Elizabeth Margulis tells a story of a woman who was a personal friend of the late dean of scientists, Dr. Albert Einstein. Motivated partly by her admiration for him, she held hopes that her son might become a scientist. One day she asked Dr. Einstein's advice about the kind of reading that would best prepare the child for this career. To her surprise, the scientist recommended 'Fairy tales and more fairy tales.' The mother protested that she was really serious about this and she wanted a serious answer; but Dr. Einstein persisted, adding that creative imagination is the essential element in the intellectual equipment of the true scientist, and that fairy tales are the childhood stimulus to this quality." However, it is unclear from this description whether Margulis heard this story personally from the woman who had supposedly had this discussion with Einstein, and the relevant issue of the New Mexico Library Bulletin does not appear to be online.
Variant: "First, give him fairy tales; second, give him fairy tales, and third, give him fairy tales!" Found in The Wilson Library Bulletin, Vol. 37 from 1962, which says on p. 678 http://books.google.com/books?id=KfQOAQAAMAAJ&q=einstein#search_anchor that this quote was reported by "Doris Gates, writer and children's librarian".
Variant: "Fairy tales … More fairy tales … Even more fairy tales". Found in Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales by Jack Zipes (1979), p. 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=MxZFuahqzsMC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Variant: "If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales. If you want them to be very brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales." Found in Chocolate for a Woman's Heart & Soul by Kay Allenbaugh (1998), p. 57 http://books.google.com/books?id=grrpJh7-CfcC&q=brilliant#search_anchor. This version can be found in Usenet posts from before 1998, like this one from 1995 http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.beatles/msg/cec9a9fdf803b72b?hl=en.
Variant: "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Found in Mad, Bad and Dangerous?: The Scientist and the Cinema by Christopher Frayling (2005), p. 6 http://books.google.com/books?id=HjRYA3ELdG0C&lpg=PA6&dq=einstein%20%22want%20your%20children%20to%20be%20intelligent%22&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q=einstein%20%22want%20your%20children%20to%20be%20intelligent%22&f=false.
Variant: "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Found in Super joy English, Volume 8 by 佳音事業機構 (2006), p. 87 http://books.google.com/books?id=-HUBKzP8zsUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q&f=false
Disputed
Context: Fairy tales and more fairy tales. [in response to a mother who wanted her son to become a scientist and asked Einstein what reading material to give him]
— Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter and dancer 1958 - 2009
Childhood
HIStory: Past, Present & Future, Book I (1995)
„What a childhood I had. My mother never breast-fed me. She said she liked me as a friend.“
— Rodney Dangerfield American actor and comedian 1921 - 2004
Source: It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect But Plenty of Sex and Drugs (2004), p. 19
— 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.
„Mystical experiences, like those that marked my childhood, are apparently far from rare.“
— Albert Hofmann Swiss chemist 1906 - 2008
Foreword
LSD : My Problem Child (1980)
Context: In studying the literature connected with my work, I became aware of the great universal significance of visionary experience. It plays a dominant role, not only in mysticism and the history of religion, but also in the creative process in art, literature, and science. More recent investigations have shown that many persons also have visionary experiences in daily life, though most of us fail to recognize their meaning and value. Mystical experiences, like those that marked my childhood, are apparently far from rare.
— Unknown author
„No matter what happens, always Keep your childhood innocence. It's the most important thing.“
— Federico Fellini Italian filmmaker 1920 - 1993
„That is how you know you've left childhood behind-when you wish for time to go backward.“
— Alice Hoffman, book Here on Earth
Source: Here on Earth
— Beatrix Potter English children's writer and illustrator 1866 - 1943
Journal entry (1896-11-17), from the National Trust collection.
Source: The Complete Tales
„What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood?“
— Beatrix Potter English children's writer and illustrator 1866 - 1943
Source: Messages from the Masters: Tapping into the Power of Love
„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)
— 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
„One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is to have a happy childhood.“
— Agatha Christie English mystery and detective writer 1890 - 1976
— Alice Miller Swiss psychologist 1923 - 2010
Source: Thou Shalt Not Be Aware : Society's Betrayal of the Child
— Aristotle Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy -384 - -321 BC
„It's never too late to have a happy childhood.“
— Tom Robbins, book Still Life with Woodpecker
Source: Still Life with Woodpecker (1980)
„The childhood shows the man,
As morning shows the day.“
— John Milton English epic poet 1608 - 1674
Source: Paradise Regained by John Milton
— Edvard Munch Norwegian painter and printmaker 1863 - 1944
It was not just I who was suffering; it was all my nearest and dearest as well.
Edvard Munch talks to Jens Tiis, c. 1933, Munch Museum; as quoted in Edvard Much – behind the scream, Sue Prideaux; Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, pp. 85-86
after 1930
— Girolamo Cardano Italian Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer 1501 - 1576
The Book of My Life (1930)
— Alice Miller Swiss psychologist 1923 - 2010
Breaking Down the Wall of Silence (Abbruch der Schweigemauer) (1990)
— Novalis German poet and writer 1772 - 1801
“Miscellaneous Observations,” Philosophical Writings, M. Stolijar, trans. (Albany: 1997) #48
— Kurt Hahn German educator 1886 - 1974
Quoted by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Colorado Outward Bound's 25th anniversary in 1987; as cited in Leadership the Outward Bound Way (2007), ISBN 159485033X.
— Sukirti Kandpal Indian actress 1987
Sukirti Kandpal on #MeToo campaign http://www.tellychakkar.com/tv/features/metoo-tv-celebs-share-their-experiences-being-harassed-and-assaulted-171018/
— Titian Italian painter 1488 - 1576
Quote from a petition presented by Titian, and read on the 31st of May, 1513, before the Council of ten of Venice; as quoted by J.A.Y. Crowe & G.B. Cavalcaselle in Titian his life and times - With some account..., publisher John Murray, London, 1877, p. 153-154
The chiefs of the Council on the day in question accepted Titian's offer. Sharp monitions reminded him in 1518, 1522 and 1537 that he should complete 'The Battle', he did not until 1539
1510-1540
Source: http://www.everypainterpaintshimself.com/article/titians_battle_of_cadore_1538-9
— Alfred Kinsey American scientist (1894–1956) 1894 - 1956
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)
— 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.
— 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.
— Jiddu Krishnamurti Indian spiritual philosopher 1895 - 1986
Talks & Dialogues, Saanen (9 July1967) http://www.jkrishnamurti.com/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text.php?tid=41&chid=1, p. 86
1960s
Context: Throughout life, from childhood, from school until we die, we are taught to compare ourselves with another; yet when I compare myself with another I am destroying myself. In a school, in an ordinary school where there are a lot of boys, when one boy is compared with another who is very clever, who is the head of the class, what is actually taking place? You are destroying the boy. That’s what we are doing throughout life. Now, can I live without comparison — without comparison with anybody? This means there is no high, no low — there is not the one who is superior and the other who is inferior. You are actually what you are and to understand what you are, this process of comparison must come to an end. If I am always comparing myself with some saint or some teacher, some businessman, writer, poet, and all the rest, what has happened to me — what have I done? I only compare in order to gain, in order to achieve, in order to become — but when I don’t compare I am beginning to understand what I am. Beginning to understand what I am is far more fascinating, far more interesting; it goes beyond all this stupid comparison.
„I don't go to battle prepared, I know I will win it.“
— Will Smith American actor, film producer and rapper 1968
— Shrikant Talageri Indian author 1958
The Aryan Invasion Theory and Indian Nationalism (1993)
— Shulamith Firestone, book The Dialectic of Sex
One didn't discuss serious matters nor did one curse in from of women and children; one didn't openly degrade them, one did it behind their backs.
Chapter Four
The Dialectic of Sex (1970)
— Robert Lewandowski Polish association football player 1988
"Trzeba czasem zdjąć zbroję. Wywiad z Robertem Lewandowskim" https://twojstyl.pl/artykul/trzeba-czasem-zdjac-zbroje-robert-lewndowski,aid,824 (August 25, 2020)
„Childhood is cannibals and psychotics vomiting in your mouth!“
— Maurice Sendak American illustrator and writer of children's books 1928 - 2012
— Anaïs Nin writer of novels, short stories, and erotica 1903 - 1977
Source: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
— Sören Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855
1847
1840s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s
— Maurice Sendak American illustrator and writer of children's books 1928 - 2012
„Beating heroin is child's play compared to beating your childhood.“
— Stephen King, book The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
Source: The Waste Lands
„Kids who don't eavesdrop on adult conversations are doomed to a childhood of ignorance.“
— Kelley Armstrong Canadian writer 1968
Source: Men of the Otherworld
— Napoleon Hill American author 1883 - 1970
As quoted in Diamond Power : Gems of Wisdom from America's Greatest Marketer (2003) by Barry Farber, p. 53
— Aldous Huxley English writer 1894 - 1963
Variant: The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.
„I covet truth; beauty is unripe childhood's cheat; I leave it behind with the games of youth.“
— Ralph Waldo Emerson American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803 - 1882
Source: Prose and Poetry
— Jonathan Tropper American writer 1970
Source: This is Where I Leave You
— Richard Paul Evans American writer 1962
Source: The Gift
„Childhood, after all, is the first precious coin that poverty steals from a child.“
— Anthony Horowitz, book The House of Silk
Source: The House of Silk
„Genius: the ability to prolong one's childhood.“
— H.L. Mencken American journalist and writer 1880 - 1956
— Alice Miller Swiss psychologist 1923 - 2010
Source: The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
„For many of us, the curtain had just come down on childhood.“
— Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie
— Joe Hill Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World 1879 - 1915
Source: NOS4A2
— Fernando Pessoa Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher 1888 - 1935
— Edna St. Vincent Millay American poet 1892 - 1950
"Childhood Is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies," lines 1-4, from Wine from These Grapes (1934)
„In our family, you don't get a childhood. We're too busy trying to dominate the world.“
— Gordon Korman, book The Emperor's Code
Source: The Emperor's Code
— Patrick Rothfuss, book The Name of the Wind
Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 12, “Puzzle Pieces Fitting” (p. 88)
— Brian W. Aldiss British science fiction author 1925 - 2017
Quoted in the Manchester Guardian (31 December 1977), and Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations (1988) https://web.archive.org/web/20000709051930/http://www.bartleby.com/63/90/4790.html edited by James B. Simpson; Says Who?: A Guide To The Quotations Of The Century (1988) by Jonathon Green, p. 17 http://books.google.com/books?id=xUwOAQAAMAAJ&q=%22When+childhood+dies,+its+corpses+are+called+adults%22&dq=%22When+childhood+dies,+its+corpses+are+called+adults%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KZO4U_WwFJSlqAaquoKoCg&ved=0CK0BEOgBMBk and The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1989), p. 45 http://books.google.com/books?id=bs0J36MpieIC&pg=PA45&dq=%22When+childhood+dies,+its+corpses+are+called+adults%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KZO4U_WwFJSlqAaquoKoCg&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22When%20childhood%20dies%2C%20its%20corpses%20are%20called%20adults%22&f=false
„Childhood and adulthood were not factors of age but states of mind.“
— Alex Shakar, The Savage Girl
Source: The Savage Girl
„Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.“
— John Betjeman English poet, writer and broadcaster 1906 - 1984
„People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children.“
— Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
Source: Calvin and Hobbes