Youth Quote Search

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. 

  • Characterizations of a good job
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“For me, in my experience, usually the salary is much more than getting paid hourly.”

Participant:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Black
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Attributes and characteristics
  • Describing Identity

“I am really nice. I love people. I am a people person. I am more of, I am going to talk to you, be friendly. I will never make somebody feel like I’m judging them. People love to work with me. I am friends with all my coworkers. I am nice.”

Participant:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • white
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Inspiration and motivations

“ I literally have everything planned out already. I know if I go to school 5 years from now, I could do what I want to do because I am very straightforward. know what I am going to do, so there is no way I am going to back out of it.”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Comparing and contrasting 'job' 'work' and 'career'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

[For “work”] “Purpose, satisfaction, duty, exhaust, family.”

Participant:

  • New Orleans, LA
  • Black
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Reflections on Focus Group Experience
  • Takeaways

“I agree with him. Basically we just talked about [what] we want. We just have to work for it. Nothing comes easy. We actually have to motivate ourselves, have people motivate us, motivate each other to actually go get it, because a lot of things are literally right in front of us. But trying to go get it is the hardest part.”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • white
  • male
  • 15-22
  • mixed income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Imagining their future selves

“Probably just staying alive and trying to enjoy life while still being who God wants and continuing doing what He wanted me to do in life.”

Participant:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • white
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Describing Identity
  • Race, ethnicity, gender, culture

“I have never really felt those pressures before, so I don’t think it would [affect me to be Latina.]”

Participant:

  • Belle Glade, FL
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Reflections on Focus Group Experience
  • Takeaways

“I’m thinking about where I have been in life and where I am now. I will be thinking about the pathway I made for my future and how to stay on track.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 26-29
  • mixed income
  • Appealing jobs or careers
  • Aspirations and Goals

“[Criminal justice is appealing because] it is another way to help people and society, and I think the investigation work is fascinating.”

Participant:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • white
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Challenges and Barriers
  • Discrimination and Bias

“I really don’t have any negative feeling like towards any race. I know you’re talking about white people right now, and maybe…but me personally, I don’t care for any race. I like races equal. So it’s just like, you know, I like, I’ll be friends with Black. I’ll be friends with African, you know, African American…I feel like I can be, like if I’m, like I said, if I was doing like a group project with art and stuff, I feel like any race is…”

Participant:

  • New Orleans, LA
  • white
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income