George Eliot on youth

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.
But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

George Washington, as a boy, was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth. He could not even lie.

Mark Twain1835–1910“Brief Biographical Sketch of George Washington”, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867), ed. John Paul

When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.

Mark Twain1835–1910Autobiography of Mark Twain, Mark Twain Project edition, Volume 1 (2010), p. 210