Grown up, and that is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.
Interpretation
Growing up is a difficult process that requires effort, unlike the ease of remaining in a perpetual state of childhood.
In this quote, F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects on the challenges of adulthood and the maturity that comes with it. He suggests that many people find it simpler to avoid the responsibilities and complexities of growing up, preferring instead to navigate life in a childlike state, which lacks depth and growth. The quote underscores the significance of embracing the arduous journey of maturity to fully understand life and oneself.
In practice
In a graduation speech, one might encourage young adults to embrace the challenges of growing up rather than resisting them.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
I felt like a kid standing in the world's greatest video arcade without any quarters, unable to do anything but walk around and watch the other kids play.
I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine.
When I was maybe 5 or 6 years old, the neighborhood girls would sit on the stoop and sing. I was known as the kid who had a good voice and no father.
My mother wanted me to join the Indian army, as the army was seen as a decent and respectable career to have. I shocked my mother by telling her that I wanted to be a writer.
Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.
Growing up as a queer child in Mississippi, I got my Nintendo in 1985, and I've been lost in this world ever since. When I was scared because my church said people like me were going to burn in hell, 'Final Fantasy,' 'Dragon Warrior' and 'Super Mario' offered a lifeboat.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.