The Teenage Years Are Brought To Horrifying Life With These 13 Quotes About Teens That Make Us Glad We’re All Grown Up.
1. Socrates, Greek philosopher
Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.
True or False? True! Considering the source, this is one of those “more things change, the more they stay the same” quotes. At least we can take comfort in the fact that poor behavior from teenagers is nothing new. Of course, that also means it probably isn’t going to change any time soon. Nature of the beast!
2.George Carlin, Brain Droppings
And although I broke a lot of laws as a teenager, I straightened out immediately upon turning eighteen, when I realized the state had a legal right to execute me.
True or False? True! There’s a thin line between not being responsible for your actions and being wholly responsible. That line’s got to be drawn somewhere, though, doesn’t it?
3. My Chemical Romance, “Teenagers” (lyrics by Gerard Way)
Teenagers scare the living s*** out of me / They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed / So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose / Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me.
True or False? True! The tune may be a little too catchy for the subject matter — if you’ve heard the song, you know what we’re talking about — but these lyrics from the alt-rock song highlight new dangers of the teen years in the form of school shootings, which many of us didn’t have to experience growing up. Now it’s a constantly hovering uncertainty.
4. J.B. Priestley, author of An Inspector Calls
Like its politicians and its wars, society has the teenagers it deserves.
True or False? True! Next time you gripe about a disrespectful teen, consider how they got that way. Are kids getting worse or our parents? (We vote both.)
5. Stephen King, author of Carrie
You know, small children take it as a matter of course that things will change every day and grown-ups understand that things change sooner or later and their job is to keep them from changing as long as possible. It’s only kids in high school who are convinced they’re never going to change. There’s always going to be a pep rally and there’s always going to be a spectator bus, somewhere out there in their future.
True or False? True! Great observations on teenagers from the Master of Suspense. But don’t act like there wasn’t a little of that thinking when you were young.
6.Dan Chaon, author of Among the Missing
We leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that it’s hard to tell which one is us. How many versions do we abandon over the years?
True or False? True! Poignant thoughts here about how often we change over such a short period of time. And you wonder why kids in their teen years do things that don’t make sense. (A lot of things.) And if you don’t believe us, just consider these observations on teenagers from WebMD (males and females).
7. Anonymous
Teenagers are the most misunderstood people on earth. Treated like children, but expected to act like adults.
True or False? False! Of our Quotes About Teens, this one is probably the most sympathetic, but we’re not sure it accurately states the problem. Maybe this perception teenagers out of control stems from the fact that our standards for them have been lowered?
8. Ray Bradbury, author of Dandelion Wine
The beginning of wisdom, as they say. When you’re seventeen you know everything. When you’re twenty-seven if you still know everything you’re still seventeen.
True or False? True! In other words, if you’re the same person at 27 that you were at 17, you wasted 10 years of your life.
9. Michael Crichton, author of Prey
Kids are more advanced these days. The teenage years now start at 11.
True or False? True! And who’s fault is it? Teenagers for being smarter than they used to be, or parents for not placing tighter controls on what their children are exposed to? According to Psychology Today, teenagers start watching and observing you more closely at this point, so be on your best behavior if you want them to do the same.
10. Tina Fey, author of Bossypants
It was a major and deeply embarrassing teenage revelation. It must be how straight teenage boys feel when they realize those boobs they like have heads attached to them.
True or False? True! Every recovering teenage boy, or man who got caught leering at cleavage, would have to agree.
11. Anonymous
Teenage — young enough to know you can, old enough to know you shouldn’t, and stupid enough to do it anyway.
True or False? True! But to any kid readers out there, don’t feel too bad. It’s been this way for generations.
12. Scott Thompson, author of Young Men Shall See
When we became teenagers boredom grew like a moth in a cocoon fighting to escape, and the peace created by our parents became a prison. We sought excitement and adventure. We sought anything but the sinless, pure, and average of the faux idyllic.
True or False? True! It’s only nature that we should want to forge a path away from the familiar to something that is uniquely our own. There’s nothing wrong with finding our own way, but often, there is something amiss with the paths we choose.
13. Rebecah McManus, author of Colliding Worlds
For in today’s generation of teenagers finding acceptance is hard, especially for those who dare to be different — then it’s impossible.
True or False? True, and rather unfortunate. If you choose to march to your own drummer too early in life, the rest of the conformists won’t know what to do with you, so get ready for ridicule.
14. Sarah Newton, author of The Teen Years: Don’t Get Mad, Get Through
The biggest test for parents is not how they parent, but how they respond to disorder and unpredictability.
True or False? True! Teenagers change too much, too quickly. Keeping up with it all can be chaotic and unexpected, but that’s the job every parent signs up for.
The teen years are hard, and thankfully (for many of us) over. Which of these Quotes About Teens did you find to be the most accurate?
