To be young is all there is in the world. The rest is nonsense - and cant. They talk so beautifully about work and having a family and a home (and I do, too, sometimes) - but it's all worry and head-aches and respectable poverty and forced gushing.... Telling people how nice it is, when, in reality, you would give all of your last thirty years for one of your first thirty. Old people are tremendous frauds.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Youth is vital while later life is burdened by worry and routine.
- In plain terms
- Being young is the best part; the rest is trouble.
- What can you take from it?
- Youth is valued over the struggles of age.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What do you miss about being young?
- Are old people really that different?
Another view
It romanticizes youth while ignoring its own difficulties.
More from Wallace Stevens
In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of easy, professional utterance. American - on the other h…
Permalink to quote #4 How full of trifles everything is! It is only one's thoughts that fill a room with something more than furniture.
Permalink to quote #6 Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
In your teens and your 20s, you're immortal, you're untouchable. It's only later that you begin to realize you are mortal. (2004)
Johnny DeppJohnny Depp quote #1 People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach 'retirement' age seem very admirable to me.
Helen HayesHelen Hayes quote #4 Youth flies away and never comes back.
Pierre de RonsardPierre de Ronsard quote #5