When you're eighteen your emotions are violent, but they're not durable.

—W. Somerset Maugham

emotions youth intensity

About W. Somerset Maugham

Portrait of W. Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham ( MAWM; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories.

More quotations from W. Somerset Maugham

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.

—W. Somerset Maugham

It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent.

—W. Somerset Maugham

People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.

—W. Somerset Maugham

criticism hypocrisy praise

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation, as allowed by Cicero himself, who says, 'there is not only an art, but an eloquence in it.' A well bred woman may easily and effectually promote the most useful and elegant conversation without speaking a word. The modes of speech are scarcely more variable than the modes of silence.

—W. Somerset Maugham

silence conversation talking elegance

If you want change, you have to make it. If we want progress we have to drive it.

—W. Somerset Maugham

More quotations tagged with “youth”

The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.

—Alfred North Whitehead

age youth tragedy

I guess every generation is doomed to fight its war,… suffer the loss of the same old illusions, and learn the same old lessons on its own.

—Philip Caputo

war ignorance learning youth loss illusion

When you're young, you always think you'll meet all sorts of wonderful people, that drifting apart and losing friends is natural. You don't worry, at first, about the friends you leave behind. But as you get older, it gets harder to build friendships. Too many defenses, too little opportunity. You get busy. And by the time you realize that you've lost the dearest best friend you've ever had, years have gone by and you're mature enough to be embarrassed by your attitude and, frankly, by your arrogance.

—Kate Jacobs in The Friday Night Knitting Club

friendship friends youth opportunity busyness attitude arrogance defense

The skepticism of youth signals the beginning of a search for something actually worth trusting, both within one's own psyche and in the world. That's why teens, supposedly stuck in life's lost years, are often so unequivocal about what they love and what they hate, and so frustrated when they feel misunderstood. The adolescent spirit is not the spirit of the lost. It is the conviction that you are not lost—that wandering has a purpose, and that what you deserve more than anything is the freedom to walk awhile on your own path.

understanding love hate purpose youth trust skepticism conviction

What causes adolescents to rebel is not the assertion of authority but the arbitrary use of power, with little explanation of the rules and no involvement [of the adolescent] in the decision making.

—Laurence Steinberg and Ann Levine

power rules rebellion authority youth

History

11 Jul 2015 Added