60 Quotes About Naivete

..en av os bondestudenter som er blit skadet indvortes ved å bli overflyttet til fremmed jord og atmosfære, han er en liten rumler fra landsbygden som gjærne vil agere frighetsmand og staskar hvortil han ikke er født. Manden mangler hjærtets dannelse, hans blod er falsk i ham. Nærmere uttrykt er han en begavet skøiergut som aldri blir voksen. Det er min lille mening.

What is it that the child has to teach?The child naively believes that everything should be fairand everyone should be honest,that only good should prevail,that everybody should have what they wantand there should be no pain or sadness.The child believes the world should be perfectand is outraged to discover it is not.And the child is right.

It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.

[H]e was still young enough to think that there was something fundamentally inhuman about thinking more than one step ahead at a time.

All right, Tess. You want it all? You don't care about consequences? Then it is too late. I could tell you to leave him alone. That he's complicated, not in a sexy way, but in a damaged way. I could tell you damage isn't sexy, it's scary. You're still young enough to think every experience will improve you in some long-term way, but it isn't true. How do you suppose damage gets passed on?

Nemed was a smart kid, but like almost all kids he operated under the delusion that adults were genuinely as knowledgeable and certain as they pretended to be in front of kids.

She had never had a friend like this, in her private room, combing her hair, listening to her, talking about silly nonsense and the uselessness of one's parents; how the future was perfect, because they hadn't lived it yet.

I know that age, it's a particularly obstinate one, and a thousand bogies won't make you fear the future. A pity we can't change over.

Does anyone act more like an overserious senior citizen with time running out on their chance for immortality than someone in their twenties?