# Favourite quotes



## Kelise

I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we post our favourite quotes about writing (and reading)? 

I'll start it off, but I warn you - the one I found is long, but I like it so much I just have to share it around 


"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You'll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She's the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That's the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She's the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she's kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author's making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce's Ulysses she's just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It's easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she's going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She'll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she's sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn't burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you're better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.
Or better yet, date a girl ho writes.” – *Rosemary Urquico*


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## Meg the Healer

I have two quotes that I like....sometimes I can recite them from memory; other times I have to email and it and say here.

The first is one my favorite on love and what it means to be in love.

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain.” *~Neil Gaiman~*

The second one is that everyone has obstacles to overcome. It's what happens after you fall that makes you who you are.

"Every Warrior of the Light has felt afraid of going into battle. Every Warrior of the Light has, at some time in the past, lied or betrayed someone. Every Warrior of the Light has trodden a path that was not his. Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons. Every Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light. Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties. Every Warrior of the Light has said 'yes' when he wanted to say 'no.' Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved. That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is." *~ Paulo Coelho 21st century Brazilian writer from Warrior of the Light~*


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## At Dusk I Reign

From one of my faves, Terry Pratchett:


"I'm about 10,000 words into my next book. Do I know what it is about? Yes, I do know what it is about, it's just that I'm not telling myself. I can see bits of the story and I know the story is there. This is what I call draft zero. This is private. No one ever, ever gets to see draft zero. This is the draft that you write to tell yourself what the story is. 

Someone asked me recently how to guard against writing on auto-pilot. I responded that writing on auto-pilot is very, very important! I sit there and I bash the stuff out. I don't edit - I let it flow. The important thing is that the next day I sit down and edit like crazy. But for the first month or so of writing a book I try to get the creative side of the mind to get it down there on the page. 

Later on I get the analytical side to come along and chop the work into decent lengths, edit it and knock it into the right kind of shape. Everyone finds their own way of doing things. I certainly don't sit down and plan a book out before I write it. 

There's a phrase I use called "The Valley Full of Clouds." Writing a novel is as if you are going off on a journey across a valley. The valley is full of mist, but you can see the top of a tree here and the top of another tree over there. And with any luck you can see the other side of the valley. But you cannot see down into the mist. Nevertheless, you head for the first tree. 

At this stage in the book, I know a little about how I want to start. I know some of the things that I want to do on the way. I think I know how I want it to end. This is enough. The thing now is to get as much down as possible. If necessary, I will write the ending fairly early on in the process. Now that ending may not turn out to be the real ending by the time that I have finished. But I will write down now what I think the conclusion of the book is going to be.

 It's all a technique, not to get over writer's block, but to get 15,000 or 20,000 words of text under my belt. When you've got that text down, then you can work on it. Then you start giving yourself ideas."


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## Mdnight Falling

My favorite quote comes from a book does that count? >.< My all time favorite quote is the very first line in Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged.. The simplicity and complexity of "Who is John Galt?" of course before you read the book you have no idea why this question is posed, by the end you understand and you laugh... It's my favorite quote now LOL


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## Ophiucha

I certainly have a fair few, I'm afraid.

"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings."​- Salvador Dali​"It's that iconic imagery of that sea of raised fists during a live performance. It's a symbol of unity and strength and at the same time there are elements of defiance and rebellion that are inherent in that raised fist symbol. It's just one of those iconic pieces of imagery from the life of rock 'n' roll."​- David Draiman​"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it."​- Ernest Hemingway​"He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths."​- II Kings 2:24 (NIV)​"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."​- C.S. Lewis​"I couldn't live a week without a private library - indeed, I'd part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor before I'd let go of the 1500 or so books I possess."​- H.P. Lovecraft​"Total nonretention has kept my education from being a burden to me."​- Flannery O'Connor​"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."​- Ronald Reagan​"It is only by enlarging the scope of one's tastes and one's fantasies, by sacrificing everything to pleasure, that that unfortunate individual called man, thrown despite himself into this sad world, can succeed in gathering a few roses among life's thorns."​- Marquis de Sade​"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it's the parts that I do understand."​- Mark Twain​"I never knew whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses."​- William Makepeace Thackery​


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## LadyPamela

I love these quotes! I relate to the one by Terry Pratchett, who needs 10-20k to get into the current story. I tell myself this over and over as I muddle and hem and haw over the beginning when I really need to just plow through until the story begins to write itself. I also think of the first go as a 'zero draft', my eyes only.

My quote: 

'You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.' Irish proverb.

I found that one just the other day. Love it!


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## Telcontar

For some reason, this one always makes me laugh:

I try to leave out the parts that people skip.  ~Elmore Leonard

I'm a huge fan of quotes, but oddly enough I don't know/remember many about writing.


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## myrddin173

My favorite funny quote is "My mother is a fish" - William Faulkner _As I Lay Dying_

My favorite meaningful quote is my sig.


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## Kate

starconstant said:


> I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we post our favourite quotes about writing (and reading)?
> 
> I'll start it off, but I warn you - the one I found is long, but I like it so much I just have to share it around
> 
> 
> "Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve. [...]



I love this. The first time I saw it was, I believe when you posted it on Goodreads. I printed it off and showed it to my fiance in the hope that, I dunno, maybe he'd make me a cup of tea the next time he found me blubbering at something I was reading, or get the hint that all I want for my birthday/Christmas/any day of the year is books.  He looked it up and down and said "It's too long - do I have to read the whole thing?" O_O

*sigh* I'd like to believe he would know at least who Alice was..... (and I'd answer, if ever asked, both)


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## Dr.Dorkness

My quote:
"Come here, so I can bite you!" - *Murray, The evil demonic talking skull, from the Monkey Island games*


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## Behelit

Its not writing related but its by an author and its very general in scope.

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed."
— Mark Twain


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## Amorus

"Every writer I know has trouble writing."
Joseph Heller


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## Digital_Fey

Starconstant, that quote is music to my bookworm-y ears 

Unfortunately I have a terrible habit of forgetting quotes as soon as I've finished the book they're in >.> This one always makes me smile though:

"Sometimes, it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness." - Terry Pratchett, _Men at Arms_


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## Oof Nian

from robert ludlum novel :
cia agen quote : you know something harry all lesson you get , all the word you hear, all experience you go through , never take the place of first rule , teach your self to think like te enemy think


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## The Realm Wanderer

Starconstant, that quote was great. Very passionate.
As for some that I find interesting:
“I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.” - Oscar Wilde

“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.” - Oscar Wilder

"Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer." - Barbara Kingsolver 

"Like everyone else, I am going to die. But the words – the words live on for as long as there are readers to see them, audiences to hear them. It is immortality by proxy. It is not really a bad deal, all things considered." - J. Michael Straczynski


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## The Realm Wanderer

Oh my days, how did I not write my favourite quote, it's in my signature


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## Cinnea

I'll contribute with three - all of them from Albert Einstein:

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."


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## Neunzehn

"On a scale of one to ten, it's, not, good." -Owl (from Winnie the Pooh)

"I salute you! And those of you doomed to never return, I salute you twice!" -Owl

and, anything from the Bible.


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## Helbrecht

. . . That quote was brilliant, starconstant, utterly brilliant. The woman who said it is now a genius in my books. Wish there was more I could say about it. Wowza.

Liking the variety here so far. Lots of the classics seem to be cropping up, but there's a couple more obscure ones I've seen which are quite intriguing as well. Keep it up, guys. ^_^

Here's a few of mine. I have plenty which are more political that I've kept out of this list to avoid any potential disagreements.

"Humour is an almost physiological response to fear." Kurt Vonnegut

"We are here on Earth to fart around and don't let anyone tell you different." Kurt Vonnegut

"A witty saying proves nothing." Voltaire

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative." Oscar Wilde

"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh; otherwise, they'll kill you." Oscar Wilde

"The world always seems a nicer place when you've just made something that wasn't there before." Neil Gaiman

"You can appreciate that a garden is beautiful without believing there are fairies at the bottom of it." Douglas Adams

And from some various delightful works of fiction:

"I am a fully rounded human being, with a degree from the university of life, a diploma from the school of hard knocks, and three gold stars from the kindergarten of getting the s*** kicked out of me". Captain Edmund Blackadder, _Blackadder Goes Forth_

"Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose." Rorschach, _Watchmen_ by Alan Moore

"Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." Det. William Somerset, _Se7en_

'"Hey," Shadow said, "Hugin or Munin, whoever you are. Say 'Nevermore'."
"F*** you," said the raven.' - _American Gods_, Neil Gaiman

"Doctor . . . I'm taking your sister into my protection here. And I swear to you, if anything happens to her, anything at all . . . I will get very choked up. Honestly. There could be tears." Captain Malcolm Reynolds, _Serenity_

"You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!" President Merkin Muffley, _Dr. Strangelove_ (can't beat it!)


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## The Realm Wanderer

Helbrecht said:


> "A witty saying proves nothing." Voltaire


 
Whenever I hear this quote now I always think of American Pie: The Wedding, when Finch and Sifler are arguing.
Finch: "A witty saying proves nothing," -Voltaire.
Stifler: "Suck my d**k!" -Ron Jeremy.


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## Talmay

"Your entire universe will not be enough to make me guilty. You are the king of the Gods, Jupiter, the king of the stones and of the stars, the king of the waves of the sea. But you are not the king of men." - Orestes, _The Flies_ by Jean-Paul Sartre

"It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to." - Treebeard, _The Two Towers_ by J.R.R. Tolkien


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## myrddin173

Yes I am rezzing this thread mostly because of Ravana's announcement of the RP Contest in the Machiavel: Ambition game. (Yes that is a shameless plug)

On to the quote 





> Just remember: you can get more with a kind word and a 2x4 than with a 2x4 alone.


 This of course is from Ravana, It just seems like something someone in my family would say.


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## The Blue Lotus

"Without Freedom of Thought, 
there can be no such Thing as Wisdom..." Ben Franklin.


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## Dreamer

I must say that one of my favorite quotes of all times has come from a movie, but has held strong in my heart when it comes to 
my writing.  On the movie "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen the elf, Judy, tells him after he says he sees it but doesn't believe it:
"Seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing".  To me this is so true.  With each piece I create I tell myself this.  I just love it!


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## Sparkie

My favorite quote about writing?

"Tell the truth!" - Stephen King


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## Elder the Dwarf

So, so many.  Most come from songs.  The one in my sig, obviously, but here are some more:

"Just know I chose my own fate, I drove past the fork in the road and went straight." - Jay-Z

"If it's a broken part, replace it.  If it's a broken arm, then brace it.  If it's a broken heart, then face it." - Jason Mraz

Sam's whole speech to Frodo in Osgiliath in the movie version of Two Towers.

"All that we have to decide is what to do with the times given us."- Gandalf, Fellowship of the Ring.  In the movie at least, can't remember if it was in the book.

"And even though you're fed up, you got to keep your head up"- Tupac

Music can turn a day of sun into the happiest of times, even the crappiest of rhymes can make it happen every time." - Truth Himself

"When I'm gone, just carry on.  Don't mourn, rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice."

Both of Em's verses in Renegades

Everything line from Lose Yourself, Sing for the Moment, and 'Til I Collapse- Eminem

A lot of others I can't say on these forums... damn rappers.


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## Legendary Sidekick

"Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon."
 ~ Rorschach

(from _Watchmen)_


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## Reaver

"All right you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?"
-Ash in "Army of Darkness"


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## Laughing_Seraphim

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” 
Isaac Asimov
"Fear is the emotion that tends to prevent us from doing things that never should have crossed our minds in the first place, and also the same one that keeps us from living every moment like it was meant to be."
-me 
The rest of my favorites are too politically charged for this forum.


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## The Blue Lotus

"I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see." ~Duane Michals~

"I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant."~Ursula K. Le Guin~

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." ~Michelangelo~

"If people don't laugh when you tell them your dreams, you are not dreaming big enough." ~My Dad~ *At least he always says this no idea who said it first.*

"Ariel, Will you get you head out of de clouds and back in de water where it belongs!" ~Sebastian the Crab~  The Little Mermaid.


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## myrddin173

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."

-Michael Scott, _The Warlock_


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## Laughing_Seraphim

Reaver said:


> "All right you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?"
> -Ash in "Army of Darkness"


I love that movie. I absolutely do.


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## Steerpike

Gotta love the Bruce Campbell/Sam Raimi Evil Dead movies. Evil Dead 2 is my favorite, but Army of Darkness is also great.


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## Reaver

Army of darkness is a great movie.  Definitely on my top ten of all time list. Evil Dead 2 is very cool too, but it's like a remake of Evil Dead.  I mean, it's like Ash has amnesia or something.  Didn't he recognize the cabin from the first movie?


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## Steerpike

Reaver said:


> Army of darkness is a great movie.  Definitely on my top ten of all time list. Evil Dead 2 is very cool too, but it's like a remake of Evil Dead.  I mean, it's like Ash has amnesia or something.  Didn't he recognize the cabin from the first movie?



Heh. Yeah, that's pretty hilarious. I always felt like Evil Dead 2 was the best of the three, but that could be because it was the first one I saw, and I was a fan of it for a few years before Army of Darkness came out, or before I ever saw the first Evil Dead.


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## DameiThiessen

Mine is in my profile description.


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## myrddin173

“Writing is one of the few careers for which you essentially train yourself, the other two major ones being juggling and pickpocketing.”
― Maureen Johnson

This just made me laugh


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## Reaver

“Friends. 
They aren’t any such thing as good friends or bad friends. 
Maybe there are just friends. 
People who stand by you when you're hurt and who helped you feel not so lonely. 
Maybe there are worth being scared for and hoping for and living for. 
Maybe worth dying for too. 
If that what has to be. 
No bad friends. 
Only people you want. 
Need to be with. 
People who build their houses in your heart.” 
― *Stephen King *

“I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. 
I aim with my eye. 

I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. 
I shoot with my mind. 

I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. 
I kill with my heart.” 
*Stephen King*, _The Gunslinger _

“Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never persistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. Without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a man.”
-_from Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib _*by the Princess Irulan *


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## The Blue Lotus

"Listen, when you love somebody, you're always in trouble. There's only two 
things you can do about it: either stop loving 'em, or love 'em a whole lot 
more.? --Sherman T. Potter M*A*S*H


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## Reaver

The Blue Lotus said:


> "Listen, when you love somebody, you're always in trouble. There's only two
> things you can do about it: either stop loving 'em, or love 'em a whole lot
> more.? --Sherman T. Potter M*A*S*H



I miss Colonel Potter and the M*A*S*H gang.  Except for Charles Emerson Winchester the 3rd.


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## The Blue Lotus

Reaver said:


> I miss Colonel Potter and the M*A*S*H gang.  Except for Charles Emerson Winchester the 3rd.


One of the best ones was: "I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got thrown into this war I had a clear understanding with the Pentagon: no guns. I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I'll even 'hari-kari' if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun!" -- Hawkeye


But Charles had a few good ones too!!! He was a pompous cad but a funny one. Example: "Carbon paper in the safe -- what brilliant foresight! In only 2000 years it will 
turn into diamonds!" -- Charles 

"...but know this. You can cut me off from the civlised world. You can 
incarcerate me with two moronic cellmates. You can torture me with your thrice 
daily swill, but you cannot break the spirit of a Winchester. My voice shall be 
heard from this wilderness and I shall be delivered from this fetid an festering 
sewer." -- Charles 


RIP Potter.


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## The Blue Lotus

Reaver,
Did you know that Hawkeye is teaching @ NY's Brownstone?  I'd kill someone to get a chance to take that class. He wrote a lot of the second half of the shows run. Man he was good.


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## Reaver

I didn't know that. That would be very cool though. He's an excellent writer. If you haven't read them, check out _"Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself"_ & _ "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed:And Other Things I've Learned".  _


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## The Blue Lotus

I borrowed both from the local Lib. when I was younger... I own them both now! Very cool books. Glad he and his bother were finally able to make amends.


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## Reaver

It is good when you can re-connect with estranged family members. I can certainly relate to his feelings.


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## The Blue Lotus

yep yep. IDK it is going to be a huge loss for the screen writing world when he passes. No one comes close to touching him in witty satire.


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## Reaver

I agree wholeheartedly.  Sometimes I'm blown away by how old most of my favorite actors, writers and other famous-types are.


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## The Blue Lotus

Pfft, When Potter passed away last week I realized how freaking old I am getting. I mean I had a crush on Hawk for crying out loud. 
Time flies when you're having fun.


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## Reaver

The Blue Lotus said:


> Time flies when you're having fun.



Truer words have yet to be spoken. Where have the years gone?  Happily, I recently saw a quote that kinda puts it all in perspective:
 “If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.” 
― Stephen King


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## The Blue Lotus

Reaver said:


> Truer words have yet to be spoken. Where have the years gone?  Happily, I recently saw a quote that kinda puts it all in perspective:
> “If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.”
> ― Stephen King



You could not pay me to be a teen again. Not a snowballs chance in hell.


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## Elder the Dwarf

The Blue Lotus said:


> You could not pay me to be a teen again. Not a snowballs chance in hell.



Haha I like being a teenager.  I get to hang out with friends, not work, and do most everything I want to do on my parent's money.  That being said, it bothers me when people say things like "Wait until you grow up and have real problems"

The reason it bothers me is that I think at whatever stage your life is in, your problems are just as real.  The struggles teens have with relationships and school are just as important to them as the struggles adults might have with marriage or paying bills or parenthood.  It is unfair to trivialize someone else's problems just because you think what you are going through is much worse.

By the way, that comment isn't aimed at anybody here.


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## The Blue Lotus

Elder the Dwarf said:


> Haha I like being a teenager.  I get to hang out with friends, not work, and do most everything I want to do on my parent's money.  That being said, it bothers me when people say things like "Wait until you grow up and have real problems"
> 
> The reason it bothers me is that I think at whatever stage your life is in, your problems are just as real.  The struggles teens have with relationships and school are just as important to them as the struggles adults might have with marriage or paying bills or parenthood.  It is unfair to trivialize someone else's problems just because you think what you are going through is much worse.
> 
> By the way, that comment isn't aimed at anybody here.



I agree, however, for some of us those years were crap. Literally. 

What teens may or may not be going through ( I have a sister who is 14 ) is very real. No doubt it is important to that person. 



But yeah, once you get to be our age 30's and up. You will understand what they mean by that. Problems still exist but, you no longer have mom and dad as a safety net. 


Now it is up to you to provide for your family, make things work, smile even when you really just want to vomit. The effort is usually unnoticed and unappreciated. 

That being said I would still take all that and much more over being subjected to my teens once again... 



Of course, I moved out when I was 16 because I could not put up with a moments more of the crap that we called "home" but, that was just my own personal situation. 


Every once in a while something happens and you handle the situation with all your skills and get a hug, a kiss, or a heartfelt thank you which makes it all worth while.  When you watch your children grow up to become responsible citizens, mothers, fathers and, friends. Sometimes that is enough to make you thank a higher power for the gift of age. 



Which brings me to my quote of the day: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Later the author was asked about this and he corrected himself and said “I decided the words were too conservative for me. We're not borrowing from our children, we're _stealing_ from them--and it's not even considered to be a crime.”


If someone is enjoying that time of their life ( teens / young adult ) no one begrudges them that. However, they need to be aware that much bigger issues lurk just around the bend, and there is a generation about to come that is counting on them to get it right.


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## Elder the Dwarf

I understand that, but I think every stage of life needs to be cherished.  I wouldn't trade my problems now for my problems in twenty years from now or my problems from six years ago because those problems are a part of my life, and I don't want to miss any of it.


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## Tau

"We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." - Carl Sagan


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