Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future.
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1899–1948) American Writer, Artist
Maturity is the time of life when, if you had the time, you’d have the time of your life.
—Unknown
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
—Wilhelm Stekel (1868–1940) Austrian Physician, Psychologist
Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
One does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
When the apple is ripe it will fall.
—Irish Proverb
Part of the reason for the ugliness of adults, in a child’s eyes, is that the child is usually looking upwards, and few faces are at their best when seen from below.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Maturity: Be able to stick with a job until it is finished. Be able to bear an injustice without having to get even. Be able to carry money without spending it. Do your duty without being supervised.
—Ask Ann Landers (1918–2002) American Advice Columnist
Age is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.
—Martha Graham (1894–1991) American Choreographer
Man’s maturity: to have regained the seriousness that he had as a child at play.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don’t know anything at all.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Your lordship, though not clean past your youth, have yet some smack of age in you, some relish of the saltiness of time.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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.
—Unknown
What is an adult?. A child blown up by age.
—Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) French Philosopher, Writer, Feminist
The awareness of the ambiguity of one’s highest achievements (as well as one’s deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965) German-American Theologian, Philosopher
The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.
—Hervey Allen (1889–1949) American Writer
I would say that the surest measure of a man’s or a woman’s maturity is the harmony, style, joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse.
—Benjamin Spock (1903–98) American Pediatrician, Author
Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.
—Joshua L. Liebman (1907–48) American Jewish Rabbi, Author
Relationships are the hallmark of the mature person.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
True maturity is only reached when a man realizes he has become a father figure to his girlfriends boyfriends—and he accepts it.
—Larry McMurtry (1936–2021) American Novelist, Screenwriter
Where id was, there shall ego be.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Men are but children of a larger growth; our appetites are as apt to change as theirs, and full as craving, too, and full as vain.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen.
—Brigitte Bardot (b.1934) French Film Star
I believe a man is born first unto himself—for the happy developing of himself, while the world is a nursery, and the pretty things are to be snatched for, and pleasant things tasted; some people seem to exist thus right to the end. But most are born again on entering manhood; then they are born to humanity, to a consciousness of all the laughing, and the never-ceasing murmur of pain and sorrow that comes from the terrible multitudes of brothers.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Maturity: among other things, the unclouded happiness of the child at play, who takes it for granted that he is at one with his play-mates.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
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