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. 

  • Perceptions of the term 'work'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Business casual.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • Black
  • male
  • 26-29
  • mixed income
  • Impact of peers
  • Pathways

“Like [friends] help you like push you and like motivate you to want to better yourself…When I was back in school, my friend would help me like motivate myself to like help me with my classes.”

Participant:

  • Yakima, WA
  • Hispanic
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Perceptions of the term 'work'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Phrases—that’s brilliant, that’s genius, thank you, fantastic question, I understand, how can I help, in your situation, yes, and, a work in progress, attention to detail.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 26-29
  • mixed income
  • Perceptions of the term 'social capital'
  • Relationships, Connections & Networking

“[Natural capital is] Knowledge.”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • unknown
  • female
  • 15-22
  • unknown
  • Characterizations of a good job
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“And then continue working, and then going up in the video production, I guess, working at better jobs, meeting more people. Because I guess the more people you have the more your name gets spread. The more…you know. Then continue to advance in your skills and, I guess, get more people knowing you, more companies…And then hopefully, working in the movie industry, so it would be like maybe small movies at first, and then going up to Marvel, I don’t know.”

Participant:

  • Yakima, WA
  • white
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Characterizations of a good job
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Interesting [job].”

Participant:

  • Pueblo, CO
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Attributes and characteristics
  • Describing Identity

“Goofy, funny, crazy, bold, a joke.”

Participant:

  • Oakland, CA
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Pathways
  • Steps and stages

“I didn’t put that as my goal. I am sitting here battling within myself because my fantasy that is what it would be, but like I said earlier I give you guys a lot of credit for being I am going to be an actor. This is what I am doing. I was just answering some guy because I booked a commercial tomorrow, so I still do it but I don’t even expect it any more. If it comes to me, I’m like cool, but I don’t – not that I don’t care, but it is not my main focus. I have a full-time job working for a tech company. Why do I have that job? I don’t know. It is a job. You know what I mean? Exactly the first question so I think for a realistic job or career or end goal, I would love to have my own beauty brand and then be my brand, but the steps of getting there – I have an idea for a product that I want to do. I have to develop it, create the perfect packaging, get into Sephora, be my brand and then give back…I think that [giving back] is the whole point of life. As you get older what actually makes you happy – every time I have accumulated something like material, it has been great for 10 minutes and I’m like okay. You either want something else or you don’t really care. They only thing that really gives you or myself real, genuine satisfaction in life is helping someone or feeling like you made a difference; otherwise…”

Participant:

  • New York, NY
  • white
  • female
  • 26-29
  • higher income
  • Impact of family
  • Pathways

“…when I was younger, I used to go with my dad and do all kinds of work. We would do a little bit of plumbing, a little bit fixing up houses, yards.”

Participant:

  • Oakland, CA
  • Hispanic
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Challenges and Barriers
  • Death, loss and uncertainty

“Well, you don’t want less than six figures. My sister makes a six figure salary, and she’s barely paying off her loans. So, I definitely don’t want less than that.”

Participant:

  • Baltimore, MD
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income