Welcome to the Striving to Thriving Youth Quote Library. Here you’ll find a curated collection of more than 5,700 quotes from young people ages 15-22 living in communities across the United States. In the library you can see how young people describe their multifaceted identities, how they understand and apply meaning to language around job, work and career, how they think about and assign value to relationships, networking and connections, and their future goals and the education and career choices they believe will lead them there. You can also view additional notes on curation, categories and filters.
“Shy, funny, kind, once I get to know you, I topple off…When I was younger I used to get bored a lot in school, so now I try to be as kind as possible to anybody because I know how it feels when you are being talked down to. I try to make sure I don’t make anybody feel that way. I always have to be kind.”
[At 70] “I want to be retired in San Francisco and plan on just like chilling with loved ones, telling my grandkids stories about life.”
“Depressed.”
[For career] “I would say like my future.”
“Independent, self-sufficient, passionate, dedicated, selfless, relentless, hardworking, proud of where I am today, and I just have so much love to give to everyone/everything man.”
“[Family, teachers] expect us to know what we want to do in life.”
“I struggled in high school because I wasn’t very book smart and instead was more creative. None of the teachers enjoyed the fact that I wasn’t motivated to learn about English history; all I wanted to do was pick up a camera and shoot. Due to this non-existent motivation I had, I never really showed up to school because I didn’t care enough to learn about science nor did I think it was necessary for me to learn about.”
“The question of is going to college worth it is a very popular subject and I’m happy to be a part of this discussion! I believe it’s needed for certain professional fields but not all!”
[On career] “Career could be your job, but it is just like working at McDonald’s for 20 years as a career because you are dedicated and you have been working to it for an excess amount of time. That is career worthy to me…I feel it is length of time is what career is; it is something you’ve done for years and years. [Fulfillment is when] you worked really hard to do something that you really wanted to do and you got it. [It feels] awesome.”
[By age 70] “At 70 I will probably have a lot more room in my house – family, dog, taking care of my brother in Mexico, and retirement.”