“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart.”
Qoheleth, c. 250 BC · the Preacher of Ecclesiastes
Chapter 1
On Youth
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.”
Qoheleth, c. 250 BC · the Preacher of Ecclesiastes
“A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present?”
Confucius, c. 479 BC · Chinese teacher of the Spring and Autumn period
“They have exalted notions, because they have not yet been humbled by life or learnt its necessary limitations.”
Aristotle, c. 330 BC · Greek philosopher, on the character of the young
“The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.”
Solomon, c. 700 BC · traditional author of the book of Proverbs
“Take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before your work, and your life before your death.”
The Prophet Muhammad, c. 632 AD · counsel to a young man, narrated by Ibn Abbas
“Guard your tongue in youth, and in age you may mature a thought that will be of service to your people.”
Wabasha, 1911 · Dakota chief, quoted by Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman)
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free.”
Rabindranath Tagore, 1913 · Bengali poet, first non-European Nobel laureate in literature
“Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.”
Qoheleth, c. 250 BC · the Preacher of Ecclesiastes
A thousand children were followed from birth to the age of thirty-two. How much self-control they showed as children predicted their adult health, their money, and whether they had a criminal record.
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, 2011 · 1,000 New Zealanders tracked from birth, reported by Moffitt and colleagues
In 1938 researchers began following 724 teenagers, and later their children. More than eighty years on, the study still runs, still asking what actually makes a life go well.
Harvard Study of Adult Development, 1938 · the longest running study of one group of lives, begun 1938
“Their lives are mainly spent not in memory but in expectation; for expectation refers to the future, memory to the past.”
Aristotle, c. 330 BC · Greek philosopher, on the character of the young
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