She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love. William Wordsworth
Youth is vivid rather than happy, but memory always remembers the happy things. Bernard Lovell, cited The Times 20th August 1993
Harry, thou hast robbed me of my youth. Henry IV I 2012 starring Roger Allam & Oliver Cotton & Jamie Parker & Joseph Timms & Sam Crane & Jason Baughan & Patrick Brennan & William Gaunt & Christopher Godwin & Daon Broni et al, director Dominic Dromgoole, Globe Theatre Sky Arts, Hotspur
A very riband in the cap of youth. William Shakespeare, Hamlet IV xii 77
For youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night III iv 3, Olivia
My salad days,
When I was green in judgement, cold in blood,
To say as I said then! William Shakespeare, Antony & Cleopatra I v 73
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,
The youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tattered weed, of small worth held. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 2
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth. Ecclesiastes 11:9
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Ecclesiastes 12:1
It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Lamentations 3:27
Older men declare war; but it is youth who must fight and die. Herbert Hoover, speech 27th June 1944
Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. Franz Kafka
Youth is wasted on the young. George Bernard Shaw
In youth, it was a way I had,
To do my best to please.
And change, with every passing lad
To suit his theories.
But now I know the things I know
And do the things I do,
And if you do not like me so,
To hell, my love, with you. Dorothy Parker
It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched, for they are full of the truthless ideals which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real they are bruised and wounded. W Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915
There is no hopelessness so sad as that of early youth, when the soul is made up of wants, and has no long memories, no super-added life in the life of others; though we who look on think lightly of such premature despair, as if our vision of the future lightened the blind sufferer’s present. George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
It is something cruelly incomprehensible to youthful natures, this sombre sadness in middle-aged and elderly people, whose life has resulted in disappointment and discontent, to whose faces a smile becomes so strange that the sad lines all about the lips and brow seem to take no notice of it, and it hurries away again for want of a welcome. ibid.
In his youth Michael Owen was literally a greyhound. Jamie Redknapp
‘They are anti-war, and they love everybody, and their sexual lives have become freer. The kids are looking for something else, or some different moral value.’ Mick Jagger, cited Arena: 1966 – Thirty Years Ago Today: The Year the Decade Exploded, BBC 2016
What an irony that mathematicians, who live so much more in their minds than most of humanity, should feel so much more trapped by their bodies. An ambitious young mathematician watches the calendar with a sense of trepidation and foreboding, equal to or greater than that of any model, actor, or athlete. The Mathematician’s Apology by G H Hardy sets the standard for all laments of lost youth. Sylvia Nasar
Remember when we were young: that summer, that one last dance, that one last day of childhood before we had to grow up. How do you capture that moment for ever? Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema III, BBC 2018
The perfect coming-of-age movie … The best of them capture the authentic feeling of growing up … a distinctive time and setting; a young hero trying to find his place in the world; a father figure; a first crush; a gang of buddies; moment of fun and the music to go along with it; and lost innocence. ibid.
The Wild One … Jeremy … Boyz n the Hood … The 400 Blows … Rebel Without a Cause … Lady Bird … The Breakfast Club … Moonlight … Gregory’s Girl … The Graduate … Kes … Persepolis … Saturday Night Fever … American Graffiti … Pretty in Pink … Boyhood … This is England … Fish Tank … American Honey … The Florida Project … Ratcatcher … Stand By Me … Blackboard Jungle … Quadrophenia … Donnie Darko … Bend It Like Beckham … Let Me In … Dead Poets Society … Billy Elliott … The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie … Mustang … Romeo & Juliet … A Clockwork Orange … Girlhood … Almost Famous … Clueless … Mean Girls … Heathers … Ginger Snaps … Raw … Submarine … The Virgin Suicides … Call Me By Your Name … Girls Lost … ibid.
Her name is Ashley Hardmon. Two months ago Ashley was shot dead. Ashley was just 19 when she was killed in the city she grew up in – Chicago. I’ve come to Chicago to find out why young people like Ashley are dying. Stacey Dooley in the USA: Kids in the Crossfire, BBC 2019
They say that somewhere there is a fountain whose waters can make one young again … The legendary Fountain of Youth. In Search of s5e11 … Fountain of Youth, 1980
Modern science is replacing legend in the quest to turn back the clock and regain lost youth. ibid.
Growing numbers of your people are carrying knives. And some even take knives to school thinking it will make them safer. The consequences can be devastating. My own brother was stabbed to death when I was 11 in a feud that I think could have been stopped without violence. Panorama: Knives in the Classroom, BBC 2019
This is East London. Here at this youth club children are being taught what to do if they see a stabbing … These kids are 12 to 15: I’m finding it hard to watch. ibid.
I want to understand why so many young people carry knives. ibid.
Children as young as four have been found with knives at schools according to new police figures, and it’s estimated that over seventeen thousand children between the ages of ten and fifteen have carried a knife in the last year. ibid.
People are just normalised by this sort of lifestyle. ibid.
In our fast-moving world young people are being tempted with new ways to better their lives … LA is home to a growing number of social media stars. We now live in the era of the influencer, young creatives uploading videos on everything from shopping to make-up tips or just sharing their lives on-line. These influencers promote their perfect lifestyles and flawless looks uploading their content daily to millions of followers around the world … Why are so many young people prepared to go under the knife? Reggie Yates Meets World s1e4: Influencers, 2019
He called me a dirty tramp. My own father. Rebel Without a Cause 1955 starring James Dean & Natalie Wood & Sal Mineo & Jim Backus & Ann Doran & Corey Allen & William Hopper & Rochelle Hudson & Edward Platt & Nick Adams et al, director Nicholas Ray, Natalie Wood in police station
Well I don’t see what’s bad in taking a little drink. ibid. father to rozzer in station
Jim hasn’t got any friends. ibid. father to rozzer
You’re tearing me apart! ibid. Jim to parents
If I had one day when I didn’t have to be all confused and I didn’t have to feel that I was ashamed of everything, if I felt that I belonged some place, you know? ... Life is crushing in on me. ibid. Jim to rozzer
Once you been up there you know you’ve been some place. ibid. Jim in planetarium
I don’t want to make friends. ibid. Jim in planetarium
We will disappear into the blackness of the space from which we came. Destroyed as we began in a burst of gas and fire. The heavens are still and cold once more. In all the immensity of our universe and the galaxies beyond, the Earth will not be missed. In the infinite reaches of space the problems of man seem trivial indeed. And man existing alone seems himself an episode of little consequence. That’s all. ibid. Planetarium
It’s just the age when nothing fits. ibid. mother to father of daughter