Quotes about teenager (252 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

“The problem is that everybody treats teenagers like they're stupid.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Stupidity , Problem

“As a teenager I was so insecure. I was the type of guy that never fitted in because he never dared to choose. I was convinced I had absolutely no talent at all. For nothing. And that thought took away all my ambition too.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Guy

“It’s sad to think what the state of rock and roll will be twenty years from now. It just seems like when rock and roll is dead the whole world’s gonna explode. It’s already so rehashed and so plagariazed that it’s barely alive now. It’s disgusting. I mean, kids don’t even really care about rock and roll as much as they used to, as the other generations have. It’s already turned into nothing but a fashion statement and an identity for kids to use as a tool for them to fuck and have a social life. And at that point I really can’t see music being of any importance to a teenager, really.”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

to Michael Azerrad in an interview from 1992 or 1993, in Kurt Cobain: About a Son
Interviews (1989-1994), Video

Dead , Music , Thinking , World

“Teenage angst has paid off well
Now I'm bored and old.”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

Serve the Servants.
Song lyrics, In Utero (1993)

“I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "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."
"Well," said Luke, "you're doing a fantastic job.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

People

“If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room.”

Miep Gies (1909–2010) Dutch citizen who hid Anne Frank

Way , Light

“It seemed weird calling a teenager 'sir' but I'd learned to be careful with immortals. They tended to get offended easily. Then, they blew stuff up.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Learning

“Back in the old days, when I was a child, we sat around the family table at dinner time and exchanged our daily experiences…. It wasn't very organized, but everyone was recognized and all the news that had to be told was told by each family member. We listened to each other and the interest was not put on; it was real. … A child needs to be listened to and talked to at 3 and 4 and 5 years of age … Parents should not wait for the sophisticated conversation of a teenager.”

Bob Keeshan (1927–2004) United States Marine

Essay in The New York Times (1979); as quoted in "Bob Keeshan, Creator and Star of TV's 'Captain Kangaroo,' Is Dead at 76" in The New York Times (24 January 2004) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/24/arts/bob-keeshan-creator-and-star-of-tv-s-captain-kangaroo-is-dead-at-76.html?pagewanted=all

Age , Family , Parent , Time

“When you’re a teenager and in your early twenties it seems desperately eternal and excruciatingly painful. Whereas as you grow older you realise that most things are excruciatingly painful and that is the human condition. Most of us continue to survive because we’re convinced that somewhere along the line, with grit and determination and perseverance, we will end up in some magical union with somebody. It’s a fallacy, of course, but it’s a form of religion. You have to believe. There is a light that never goes out and it’s called hope.”

Morrissey (1959) English singer

from "I've always felt like an exile" by Andrew Billen in The Times (30th May 2006)
In interviews etc., About love

Pain , Religion , Hope , Light

“We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Remarks by the President at Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/12/remarks-president-memorial-service-fallen-dallas-police-officers (12 July 2016)
2016

Books , Communication

“That’s what we must pray for, each of us: a new heart. Not a heart of stone, but a heart open to the fears and hopes and challenges of our fellow citizens. […] Because with an open heart, we can learn to stand in each other’s shoes and look at the world through each other’s eyes, so that maybe the police officer sees his own son in that teenager with a hoodie who's kind of goofing off but not dangerous and the teenager -- maybe the teenager will see in the police officer the same words and values and authority of his parents. With an open heart, we can abandon the overheated rhetoric and the oversimplification that reduces whole categories of our fellow Americans not just to opponents, but to enemies. With an open heart, those protesting for change will guard against reckless language going forward, look at the model set by the five officers we mourn today, acknowledge the progress brought about by the sincere efforts of police departments like this one in Dallas, and embark on the hard but necessary work of negotiation, the pursuit of reconciliation. With an open heart, police departments will acknowledge that, just like the rest of us, they are not perfect; that insisting we do better to root out racial bias is not an attack on cops, but an effort to live up to our highest ideals. […] With an open heart, we can worry less about which side has been wronged, and worry more about joining sides to do right. […] We can decide to come together and make our country reflect the good inside us, the hopes and simple dreams we share.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2016, Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers (July 2016)

World , Fear , Dreams , Hope

“Hitler took the guns. Stalin took the guns. Mao took the guns. You know, 'political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' And then if another crazy person everybody knew was going to attack goes and kills some people and then I'm to blame and all gun owners are to blame? Well, if somebody runs somebody with a car are they all to blame? Or somebody with a baseball bat? This is common sense and you've got a young high school senior teenager cussing to get attention to pull a stunt but none of use are supposed to talk about it because if you respond to him calling you a piece of this or a piece of that or his cohorts calling Dana Loesch a murderer and people are chanting 'burn her', well then you're a bully. That's why CNN wants to use this to kill the First Amendment, not just the Second Amendment! You have YouTube banning videos with guns, with citizens having guns or showing guns, but Hollywood and the video game makers can show all the guns they want. This is an incredibly discriminatory system!”

Alex Jones (1974) American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker

"Antigun Activist David Hogg Attacks Infowars For Gay Frogs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN4pTxI12Hc&feature=youtu.be&t=19m59s, The Alex Jones Show, March 2018.

People , School , Cars , Game

“My most enduring memory of that year is not the birth of India and Pakistan. I could not even comprehend what was happening. As a teenager from a backward village in Pakistan, I had never seen a cycle, car or train. I was completely bewildered at the turn of events. All that mattered was how to get my next meal, usually a roti and an onion.”

Milkha Singh (1935) Indian track and field athlete

Flying Sikh': Indian sprinter Milkha Singh biopic set for release, 12 July 2013, 13 December 2013, BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-23241269,

Cars , Birth , Memory , Training

“There are two answer versions. Short version: my name is Arthur, the other members of the band were in a band called Neverland. And the long one: I sang with many bands, some with a longer duration than others and I was aware of everything Arad had to offer in terms of teenage musicians. I saw that Neverland was no longer active, so I contacted them, joined forces and became what you see on the screens in front of you.”

Arthur Horeanu (2004) Romanian singer-songwriter

As an answer to: "What inspired you when you chose the band's [Arthur in Neverland] name?" genunderground.ro (January 20, 2021) https://genunderground.ro/rumpelstiltskin-printre-printisori-un-interviu-cu-arthur-in-neverland/?fbclid=IwAR1xdfMzYGpjSOJ2rcor_UYENEgr8ve1AInYG11734t45oPrScajUrauyNw,

“How would you describe your transition from teenager to adult? The truth is that I barely notice it, I spend all my time between studies and filming, I live between Madrid and Barcelona, I barely have time to think about it, I think I lived more as an adult than as a teenager, but very happy.”

Berta Castañé (2002) Spanish actress and model

¿Cómo describirías tu paso de adolescente a adulta? La verdad es que apenas me estoy dando cuenta, paso todo el tiempo entre los estudios y los rodajes, viviendo entre Madrid y Barcelona, casi no tengo tiempo de pensar en ello, creo que llevo más vida de adulta que de adolescente, pero muy feliz.
From the interview Hablamos con Berta Castañé, la estrella en ascenso de la pequeña pantalla https://www.marie-claire.es/moda/modelos/fotos/entrevista-a-berta-castane-241588061091, marie-claire.es, 28 July 2020.

Study , Time , Happiness , Truth

“In his youth Albert Einstein spent a year loafing aim- lessly. You don’t get anywhere by not ‘wasting’ time – something, unfortunately, which the parents of teenagers tend frequently to forget.”

Carlo Rovelli book Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Incipit
Seven Brief Lectures on Physics (2014)
Source: Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Youth , Parent , Time , Forgetting

“There's a taste in the air, sweet and vaguely antiseptic, that reminds him of his teenage years in these streets, and of a general state of longing, a hunger for life to begin that from this distance seems like happiness.”

Ian McEwan Saturday

Source: Saturday

Life , Hunger , Happiness

“Sometimes wisdom came from strange places, even from giant teenaged goldfish.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Wisdom

“Defining relationships over here? I see that even as the world plunges into darkness and peril, you two stand around discussing your love lives. Teenagers.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Magnus Bane, to Clary Fray and Simon Lewis, pg. 61
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)

Love , World

“I just want ambitious teenagers to know it is totally fine to be quite, observant kids. Besides being a delight to your parents, you will find you have plenty of time later to catch up.”

Mindy Kaling book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Source: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Parent , Time

“Magnus had often thought of getting a pet, but he had never considered acquiring a sullen teenage vampire. Once Raphael was gone, he thought, he was getting a cat. And he would always throw his cat a birthday party.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Saving Raphael Santiago

Cats , Birthday

“Of course it's not okay with me, I'm a teenage boy. As far as I'm concerned, this is the worst thing that's happenedd since I found out why Magnus was banned from Peru" - Jace”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Boy

“Directing teenage actors is like juggling jars of nitro-glycerine: exhilarating and dangerous.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

“I suppose a lot of teenage girls feel invisible sometimes, like they just disappear. Well, that's me—Cammie the Chameleon. But I'm luckier than most because, at my school, that's considered cool.

I go to a school for spies.”

Ally Carter I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Source: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

School , Feeling , Girl

“Don't blame us," said my mother. "We didn't blow up half of Court, steal a dozen cars, call out a murderer in the middle of a crowd, or get our teenage friend crowned queen."

"Actually," said Abe, "Iblow up half of Court.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Cars

“I've never asked, but I'm sure he has a fairly stringent policy about random teenagers lurking in his shrubbery.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Simon to Clary, pg. 114
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)

“And although I broke a lot of laws as a teenager, I straightened out immediately upon turning eighteen, when I realized the state had a legal right to execute me.”

George Carlin book Brain Droppings

Source: Brain Droppings

Law

“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 book City of Ashes

Jace to Clary, pg. 45
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

People

“my grandmother has given me her own version of the precious gift: the most precious gift any teenager coul ask for:
MY GRANDMOTHER HAS GIVEN MY MY OWN SEX PLACE!!!!!”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Princess on the Brink

Sex

“All my life I've felt like there was something wrong with me. Something missing or damaged."
"Every teenager in the world feels like that, feels broken or out of place, different somehow, royalty mistakenly born into a family of peasants.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Variant: Every teenager in the world feels like that, feels broken or out of place, different somehow, royalty mistakenly born into a family of peasants. The difference in your case is that it's true.
Source: City of Bones

Life , World , Family , Feeling

“Where did I get the nerve to think I could handle American teenagers? Ignorance. That's where I got the nerve.”

Frank McCourt (1930–2009) Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer

Thinking

“I’m not trying to—What do teenagers say nowadays?” he asked my grandmother.“Get all up in her biznez,” Nana said. Without cracking a smile.“That’s right,” he replied. “We’re not trying to get all up in your biznez, Ali.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Alice in Zombieland

Smile

“When your children are teenagers, it's important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.”

Nora Ephron (1941–2012) Film director, author screenwriter

Source: I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

Funny , For Parents , Children , Dogs

“The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way.”

Judith Martin (1938) American etiquette expert

Life , People , Way , Nature

“She had been a teenager once, and she knew that, despite the apparent contradictions, a person's teenage years lasted well into their fifties.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Mortal Coil

Personality

“Larry's zombie bag was a nearly virulent green with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it. I was almost afraid to ask what his vampire bag looked like.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Bloody Bones

Source: Bloody Bones

“Being a teenager isn't all that different from being part of someone else's story. There's always someone who thinks they know better than you do”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

Thinking , Parting

“One of the liberating effects of science fiction when I was a teenager was precisely its ability to tune me into all sorts of strange data and make me realize that I wasn’t as totally isolated in perceiving the world as being monstrous and crazy”

William Gibson (1948) American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder of the cyberpunk subgenre

World , Science

“Teenagers who do not go to church are adored by God, but they don't get to meet some of the people who love God back.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Love , God , People

“Adults are constantly telling teenagers that it's what's on the inside that matters. It's always painful to find out that adults have lied to you.”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: My Fair Godmother

Pain

“Yes, I'm a small, emaciated teenage girl who struts around fighting vampires in earrings they would rip out of my ears and shove up my”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Girl , Fight

“I think he’s handling it with grace. A lot of teenage boys would sulk, or lurk around under your window with a boom box.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Boy , Thinking , Box

“But why would Victor and Robert take her? And how the hell did two old men subdue a teenage girl anyway?”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Men , Girl , Hell

“There are many ways a self-respecting (not to mention sane) teenage girl might react to having a teenage boy suddenly in her bedroom in the middle of the night.
Hit.
Panic.
Flail.
Freeze.”

Ally Carter book Only the Good Spy Young

Source: Only the Good Spy Young

Way , Girl , Boy , Night

“On the drive we talked easily, but we did make a small detour. After pulling into a rest stop, we made out like teenagers.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

“People you knew when you were teenagers, the ones who saw your stupidest haircut and the most embarrassing things you've done in your life, and they still cared about you after all that: they're not replaceable, you know?”

Tana French book Broken Harbour

Source: Broken Harbour

Life , People

“Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'Hot Stuff”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Boy

“We didn’t know what was ahead of us then. We were just two teenagers, looking up at the sky on a cold February night. So no, he didn’t give me flowers or candy. He gave me the moon and the stars. Infinity.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Variant: We were just two teenagers, looking up at the sky on a cold February night. So no, he didn’t give me flowers or candy. He gave me the moon and the stars. Infinity.
Source: We'll Always Have Summer

Star , Flowers , Night

“No one would have ever guessed that seven of the world's most talented teenagers were coming to the Henley that day for an entirely different sort of lesson.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

World

“She who showed weakness to teenagers would be picked on to death. True fact of life.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

Life , Death

“These teenager looks aren't going to last forever, and that there are much better foundation to build a life upon than how attractive you are.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

Life

“Look, I guess it's natural, you're teenagers, its springtime, everyone's thoughts are turning to birds and bees and caterpillars and moths…..

- Iggy”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

Nature , Bird , Bee

“We don't need teenage bouda sex fiends as interns.
How do you know he is a sex fiend?
He is fifteen and he's a bouda. Hello?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

Sex

“When you become a teenager, you step onto a bridge. You may already be on it. The opposite shore is adulthood. Childhood lies behind. The bridge is made of wood. As you cross, it burns behind you”

Gail Carson Levine (1947) American writer

Source: Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly

Childhood , Adulthood

“Rock'n'roll is a teenage sport, meant to be played by teenagers of all ages--they could be 15, 25 or 35. It all boils down to whether they've got the love in their hearts, that beautiful teenage spirit… -Calvin Johnson”

Michael Azerrad (1961) American musician and writer

Source: Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991

Love , Age , Beauty , Sport

“Myrnin: "There is no drama so great as that of a teenage girl."
Claire: "Except yours.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Girl

“If you want to have a more pleasant, cooperative teenager, be a more understanding, emphatic, consistent, loving parent.”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Love , Understanding , Parent

“Too many adults wish to 'protect' teenagers when they should be stimulating them to read of life as it is lived.”

Margaret A. Edwards (1902–1988) American librarian

Life , Reading

“I know hate is a strong word and everything, but its okay: we're teenagers.”

Cecily von Ziegesar book You Know You Love Me

Source: You Know You Love Me

Hate , Strong

“What would I do without the moral compass of a teenage werewolf?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

“I've come to the conclusion that, aside from Nazis, the Taliban, and possibly the honey badger, there is no one on the planet more merciless than a teenage girl once she's decided she dislikes you.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Size 12 and Ready to Rock

Girl

“I was hoping they'd put up flyers like they do for lost cats," he said. "Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'Hot Stuff.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Hope , Boy , Cats

“I hated school. I don't trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Variant: I hated high school. I don’t trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there’s something wrong with you.

Hate , School

“Being a teenager and figuring out who you are is hard enough without someone attacking you”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

“being a teenager these days is not for the faint of heart.”

Melody Carlson (1956) American writer

Heart

“Like its politicians and its wars, society has the teenagers it deserves.”

J.B. Priestley (1894–1984) English writer

War

“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book Middlesex

Source: Middlesex

Girl , Boy , Baby

“Teenagers read millions of books every year. They read for entertainment and for education. They read because of school assignments and pop culture fads.”

Sherman Alexie (1966) Native American author and filmmaker

Books , Education , School , Reading

“Although emotionally delicate and eminently bruisable, teenagers are short on empathy. That comes later in life, if it comes at all.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

Life

“It was truly amazing, Clary thought, how much teenage boys were able to eat without ever gaining weight or making themselves sick.
-pg.68”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Boy

“As a teenager, Michel believed that suffering conferred dignity on a person. Now he had to admit that he had been wrong. What conferred dignity on people was television.”

Michel Houellebecq book Atomised

Source: The Elementary Particles

People , Suffering , Personality

“Maybe. Although I doubt most Shadowhunters get a tattoo of Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on their left shoulder.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Clary to Jace, pg. 314
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)

Tattoo

“There are many teenage vampire books you could have purchased instead. I'm grateful you made this choice.”

Mindy Kaling book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Source: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Books

“There's something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls.”

Megan Abbott book Dare Me

Source: Dare Me

Girl

“You're probably the most boring teenager in the world.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Last Song

Source: The Last Song

World

“Can we please focus? We are supposed to be professionals." Holly said.

"Not me!" said Orion cheerily, "I'm just a Teenager with hormones running wild and may I say, young fairy lady, they're running wild in your direction.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Atlantis Complex

“I think it caught on because the stories that these four girls have individually in the book are extremely relatable. They’re very real teenage experiences. I think the friendship between the four girls is something that is more realistic than a lot of the relationships we see between girls in movies lately. A lot of the time it’s like backstabbing or petty or superficial. I think most girls’ relationships are real friendships like these. I don’t think they’re that much more dramatic.”

Alexis Bledel (1981) American actress

About the book Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
[Rebecca Murray, http://movies.about.com/od/sisterhoodofthetraveling/a/sisterab052505.htm, Alexis Bledel and America Ferrera Discuss 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants', 2007-02-26]

Friendship , Books , Girl , Thinking

“Until this week the one thing I knew about the Twilight saga was that it had vampires in it, which was enough to put me off. I didn't realise it was a romantic fantasy aimed at teenage girls. Turns out it's possible to be put off something twice before you've actually seen it.”

Charlie Brooker (1971) journalist, broadcaster and writer from England

Guardian columns

Girl

“The teenage female has less demand to perform and more resources to attract love. Her body and mind are more genetic gifts.”

Warren Farrell book The Myth of Male Power

Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part II: The Glass Cellars of the disposable sex, p. 166.

Love

“Strikingly, no concern was voiced over the glaringly obvious fact that no official reason was ever offered for going to war — no reason, that is, that could not be instantly refuted by a literate teenager.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Z Magazine, May 1991 http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/articles/z9105-what-we-say.html.
Quotes 1990s, 1990-1994

War

“Going to see Godzilla at the Palais of the Cannes Film Festival is like attending a satanic ritual in St. Peter's Basilica. It's a rebuke to the faith that the building represents. Cannes touchingly adheres to a belief that film can be intelligent, moving and grand. Godzilla is a big, ugly, ungainly device to give teenagers the impression they are seeing a movie. It was the festival's closing film, coming at the end like the horses in a parade, perhaps for the same reason.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/godzilla-1998 of Godzilla (26 May 1998)
Reviews, One-and-a-half star reviews

Faith , Intelligence , Horse

“As a teenager I started to learn about what was on my plate – where it came from and what it was doing to my body. I became vegetarian then later on vegan. … Each and every person who decides to be vegan makes a massive difference. From literally saving animals from suffering and death, to improving their health and the environmental benefits – being vegan means seeing the bigger picture and saying I'm going to do what I can and take a stand. … I'm motivated by being the best example I can of what can be achieved physically and ethically. I strive to excel in what I love doing and don't believe in the idea that I can't be strong and muscular because I'm vegan, that I can't be fast or flexible because I'm a bodybuilder, and that one person can't make a difference.”

Billy Simmonds (1980)

"Interview with Billy Simmonds: Vegan Body Builder" https://web.archive.org/web/20160201195350/http://www.vivalavegan.net/articles/467-interview-with-billy-simmonds-vegan-body-builder.html, Viva La Vegan! (2016).

Love , Death , Health , Motivation

“In Somalia, we know exactly what they had to gain because they told us. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Colin Powell, described this as the best public relations operation of the Pentagon that he could imagine. His picture, which I think is plausible, is that there was a problem about raising the Pentagon budget, and they needed something that would be, look like a kind of a cakewalk, which would give a lot of prestige to the Pentagon. Somalia looked easy. Let's look back at the background. For years, the United States had supported a really brutal dictator, who had just devastated the country, and was finally kicked out. After he's kicked out, it was 1990, the country sank into total chaos and disaster, with starvation and warfare and all kind of horrible misery. The United States refused to, certainly to pay reparations, but even to look. By the middle of 1992, it was beginning to ease. The fighting was dying down, food supplies were beginning to get in, the Red Cross was getting in, roughly 80% of their supplies they said. There was a harvest on the way. It looked like it was finally sort of settling down. At that point, all of a sudden, George Bush announced that he had been watching these heartbreaking pictures on television, on Thanksgiving, and we had to do something, we had to send in humanitarian aid. The Marines landed, in a landing which was so comical, that even the media couldn't keep a straight face. Take a look at the reports of the landing of the Marines, it must've been the first week of December 1992. They had planned a night, there was nothing that was going on, but they planned a night landing, so you could show off all the fancy new night vision equipment and so on. Of course they had called the television stations, because what's the point of a PR operation for the Pentagon if there's no one to look for it. So the television stations were all there, with their bright lights and that sort of thing, and as the Marines were coming ashore they were blinded by the television light. So they had to send people out to get the cameramen to turn off the lights, so they could land with their fancy new equipment. As I say, even the media could not keep a straight face on this one, and they reported it pretty accurately. Also reported the PR aspect. Well the idea was, you could get some nice shots of Marine colonels handing out peanut butter sandwiches to starving refugees, and that'd all look great. And so it looked for a couple of weeks, until things started to get unpleasant. As things started to get unpleasant, the United States responded with what's called the Powell Doctrine. The United States has an unusual military doctrine, it's one of the reasons why the U. S. is generally disqualified from peace keeping operations that involve civilians, again, this has to do with sovereignty. U. S. military doctrine is that U. S. soldiers are not permitted to come under any threat. That's not true for other countries. So countries like, say, Canada, the Fiji Islands, Pakistan, Norway, their soldiers are coming under threat all the time. The peace keepers in southern Lebanon for example, are being attacked by Israeli soldiers all the time, and have suffered plenty of casualties, and they don't like it. But U. S. soldiers are not permitted to come under any threat, so when Somali teenagers started shaking fists at them, and more, they came back with massive fire power, and that led to a massacre. According to the U. S., I don't know the actual numbers, but according to U. S. government, about 7 to 10 thousand Somali civilians were killed before this was over. There's a close analysis of all of this by Alex de Waal, who's one of the world's leading specialists on African famine and relief, altogether academic specialist. His estimate is that the number of people saved by the intervention and the number killed by the intervention was approximately in the same ballpark. That's Somalia. That's what's given as a stellar example of the humanitarian intervention.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Responding to the question, "what did the United States have to gain by intervening in Somalia?", regarding Operation Provide Relief/Operation Restore Hope/Battle of Mogadishu.
Quotes 1990s, 1995-1999, Sovereignty and World Order, 1999

People , World , Peace , Food

“You can't possibly care about debt relief and the Simpsons. If you listen to Ligeti and James Macmillan then why would you want to know who won the United game last night or which Cabernet Sauvignon to drink with your meal tonight? Get back into your box.
Something else missing from the Times of 1968 was anything to do with the home or emotional life. There is nothing about marriage, divorce, children, schools, au pairs, depression, drinking, health, drugs, teenagers, affairs, fashion, sex, successful relationships, failing relationships, interior decor, cancer, infertility, faith, grandparents - or any of the other things that make up the texture of our non-working lives.”

Alan Rusbridger (1953) British newspaper editor

Rusbridger (2000) " Versions of seriousness http://www.theguardian.com/dumb/story/0,7369,391891,00.html", The Guardian. 4 November 2000: Cited in: Raymond Boyle (2006) Sports Journalism: Context and Issues. p. 11
According to Boyle 2006 Rusbridger argued that "changes in the broadsheet press simply reflects wider cultural shift in taste and the breaking down of areas of supposedly high and low culture."
2000s

Life , Marriage , Children , Health