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. 

  • Education
  • Perceptions of college and postsecondary

“My older cousin always says she [wishes] she went to college. Then maybe she could get a better job.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Imagining their future selves

[At 45] “I’m ready for retirement.”

Participant:

  • New Orleans, LA
  • Black
  • 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
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Imagining their future selves

“Being in a steady, stable relationship and still be close to my family.”

Participant:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • white
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Pathways
  • Steps and stages

“I just basically said like I have education, and I do whatever, how it leads up to like mostly everything. It’s like building blocks. Also, putting down how to, you know, how it takes a village to raise somebody, like the people around you that’s going to be there when you need them, like your family. Like the people you grow with, you know, like throughout your life. And putting down determination, perseverance, motivation because, you know, everything is not going to be easy. There’s going to be tough times in the world. And I put down maturity because there’s going to be a point where you have to grow up and realize that, you actually, you know, sometimes you’ve got to buckle down and do things when you don’t want to. And I put down focus, I drew an arrow in both directions for that. And in the end, for my goal, I put down like, you know, retirement, fun, lifestyle, success, like, you know, just doing things.”

Participant:

  • Chicago, IL
  • Black
  • male
  • 15-22
  • higher income
  • Perceptions of the term 'social capital'
  • Relationships, Connections & Networking

“[An increase in social capital would mean] More opportunities. I mean an example, and I didn’t get to it because of being social, but [High School] offer so many opportunities. This is an opportunity, for example, I’m here because of [High School]. I go to a different college because of [High School]. Yeah, that’s an example, yeah…I keep referring to [High School], but it’s hard to think of others at the moment.”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • unknown
  • male
  • 15-22
  • unknown
  • Describing Identity
  • Race, ethnicity, gender, culture

“I mainly grew up with my Mexican side, but we went through a lot of rough spots. My grandma got custody of me at a young age, and she is white. I kind of grew up with them, and when I came back to California, I always wanted to be on my Mexican side. I don’t know. I just feel like that is really where my heart is.”

Participant:

  • Oakland, CA
  • Hispanic
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Impact of peers
  • Pathways

“[Friends will] just make my life and while I study a little more enjoyable…They’ll help me on my way probably [in] study groups or something like that, people I meet in my classes.”

Participant:

  • Yakima, WA
  • Hispanic
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Pathways
  • Steps and stages

“In high school. And then I graduate high school, and after high school, I take the firefighter test. And then I go to the academy. And then after that, I graduate from the academy. And then I become a firefighter. Then I retire. And I would like to have, you know, two boys and a wife…and have grandkids too.”

Participant:

  • New Orleans, LA
  • white
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Imagining their future selves

[At 45] “Hopefully, I’d be about 15 years into a good job at a company that I like. I think after about five years working at one place, you normally move onto another place or you get kicked out. But so, yeah, it would probably be hopefully settled into a nice home, find a nice wife, good family.”

Participant:

  • Chicago, IL
  • Black
  • male
  • 15-22
  • higher income