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In youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel; and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in realizing and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Young people often express profound thoughts they don't fully understand, and later in life, they may dedicate themselves to understanding those thoughts.

This quote suggests that in their youth, individuals can articulate deep wisdom or insights that they may not yet fully comprehend. As they progress through life, they often find themselves reflecting on those early expressions, working to understand and embody the wisdom they once claimed, thus turning their youthful articulations into a lifelong journey of self-discovery and realization.

Themes

WisdomYouthExperienceSelf-DiscoveryReflection

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a commencement speech to encourage graduates to reflect on their past insights as they move forward.

More from Nathaniel Hawthorne

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
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A bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part.
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All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent.
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Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart! Else it may be their miserable fortune, when some mightier touch than their own may have awakened all her sensibilities, to be reproached even for the calm content, the marble image of happiness, which they will have imposed upon her as the warm reality.
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The thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become.
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A little wisdom, now and then

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