It is hard not to yearn for our childhood, the stage of life we have all gone through. The stage of life that fills us with virtues and memories that are difficult to experience later on. The freedom and innocence of a child are intense, full, amazing and hard to get back.

Now, enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you don’t really need to stop being a child, while reading the following quotes:

1. Sadly, "the day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind." ―Patrick Rothfuss

While reading this quote by Patrick Rothfuss, it is impossible to avoid thinking about college and all the decisions we made in order to get to this point, not to mention the fact that this is only the beginning...

2. "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows." ―John Betjeman

Of course we need to mature at some point, but we also need to avoid justifying unnecessary boredom with "growing-up."

3. "Childhood, after all, is the first precious coin that poverty steals from a child." ―Anthony Horowitz

The problem is not that we have more necessities as we grow, but the fact that we start to see more absurdities as necessities. If our ultimate goal was self-actualization, we wouldn't spend so much of our lives trying to meet everything in our packed agendas.

4. "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." ―Antoine De Saint Exupery

Have you noticed how the more complex math classes you take, the harder it is for you to solve simple math problems? The worst part is that this translates to how we do everything. It is as if we believe that the complications in our lives determine how grown we are.

5. When in reality, a "man's maturity [is] to have regained the seriousness that he had as a child at play." ―Frederich Nietzsche

7. After all, "we carry our childhood with us." ―Gary D. Schmidt

Not everyone's childhood is filled with joyous memories, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. We can learn from other people's mistakes just as we can learn from ours.

6. Because "there is no land like the land of your childhood." ―Michael Powell

8. Just remember that "it's never too late to have a happy childhood." ―Tom Robbins

This quote by Tom Robbins reminds us that our happiness as adults is not determined by our childhoods. We should aspire to be happy simply because it is our universal right.

9. And that "childhood has no necessary connection with age." ―Austin O'Malley

It's actually sad that it took so long for adult coloring books to become famous.

10. In fact, “childhood has its own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and nothing is more foolish than to try to substitute ours for theirs.” ―Jean-Jacques Rousseau

11. Our biggest relief is that "life is the childhood of our immortality." ―Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

12. And that “there is a place in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.” ―Elizabeth Lawrence

This is just a glimpse of all that there is to ponder about childhood. So many emotions and thoughts awake! We should be grateful for the great men and women who have left us cocoons of wisdom in the form of beautiful phrases.