As a longtime fan of QuoteGarden, ThinkExist, and BrainyQuote, and a recent convert to Pinterest, I could definitely be called a quotation junkie. I love discovering a clever, pithy line that articulates a fresh insight or ancient nugget of wisdom, pointing out irony and offering hope. In this post, I would like to share some of my favorite quotes pertinent to raising and guiding young people, which have helped me as a parent and a college consultant. I hope that these pearls of wisdom will give you inspiration as you continue to do the most noble and difficult job in the world: preparing your children for adulthood.
PARENTING
“I was a wonderful parent before I had children.”-Adele Faber
“Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories.” -John Wilmot
“A mother understands what a child does not say.” – Jewish Proverb
“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.” -Robert A. Heinlein
“We must teach our children to dream with their eyes open.” -Harry Edward
“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.” -Rabbinic saying
“Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.” -John Locke
“To an adolescent, there is nothing more embarrassing than a parent.” -Dave Barry
“The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child’s home.” -Sir William Temple
SELF-DISCOVERY AND DECISION-MAKING
“Live the life you’ve imagined.” -Henry David Thoreau
“Be yourself: everyone else is taken.” -Oscar Wilde
“If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” -Billie Holiday
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” -Walt Disney
“It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.” -Lucille Ball
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” -Joseph Campbell
“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” -The Buddha
“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.” –Sir Winston Churchill
“No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our lives our made. Destiny is made known silently.” -Agnes De Mille
“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.” -Wallace Stevens
“Once you make a decision, the whole universe will conspire to make it happen.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” -JK Rowling
“Begin with the end in mind.” -Stephen Covey
Love these nuggets. Thank you Kris.