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Don't live in this place. If you're a grad student or if you have a few more courses to pick up, fine. But if you're still hanging out in Orono or Old Town three years from now, living like an undergraduate in some sleazy apartment or trailer park, there's something wrong with you. This is not Never-Neverland. Peter Pan graduated back in '73 and now has a nice little farm in Bethel. You are not the Lost Boys and Lost Girls, but if you stay here too long, you will grow the equivalent of donkey ears. For most of you, it's time to move on. If you didn't have a better time here than you did in high school, you're weird. If you want to stay here and keep being an undergraduate, you're very weird.

Stephen King#128

LifeRealityGrowthEducationAdulthoodTransition

About this quote

What does it mean?
Graduate students should move on after school rather than staying stuck in undergraduate habits.
In plain terms
Don't stay in school too long; grow up and move on.
What can you take from it?
Life requires moving forward after education.

Where it applies

  • graduation
  • career transition
  • personal development

Putting it to work

  • set a timeline for change
  • leave comfort zones
  • embrace adulthood

Questions to consider

  • Are you ready to move on?
  • What are you waiting for?

Another view

Some people thrive in academic settings long after graduation.

More from Stephen King

  1. Hug and kiss whoever helped get you - financially, mentally, morally, emotionally - to this day. Parents, mentors, friends, teachers. If you're too uptight to …

    Permalink to quote #127
  2. Don't forget that you're a physical being with a power-plant to take care of and maintain. I'm talking about the bod under the blue gown. I'm not going to say …

    Permalink to quote #129
  3. You are the grim, goal-oriented ones who will not believe that the joy is in the journey rather than the destination no matter how many times it has been prove…

    Permalink to quote #126

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