If there is one thing all twenty-somethings can agree upon it is that within one decade a lot can change. Ten years of our lives are spent in our twenties. The first decade we can call ourselves adults, act like we know what we are doing, and make decisions on the pressing issues all around us. We go through many adjustments in our twenties and whether it be college, our first job, children, marriage, a longer than an anticipated stint in our parents' basement, or having to be frugal enough to pay bills at the end of the month, all are important. All of these steps in our twenties make us who we are and inevitably lay the groundwork for who we will become in our thirties, forties, fifties, and beyond. Our minds are forming, ideas and creativity are rapidly flowing, and views or understandings of the world and others around us are in a constant modification. A great deal can happen in our twenties and that is why I am a firm believer that twenty-somethings hold an incredible array of greatness and are capable of accomplishing anything we put our minds to. Because of this belief, I am more on the optimistic side of the decade I belong to but I do recognize (over and over) that we do run into hiccups and hard times here and there. For those struggles, I have stockpiled quotes that every twenty-something should remember as they maneuver this strangely exciting period of time.
1. "Wealth is the ability to fully experience life." ~Henry David Thoreau
2. "For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." ~Audrey Hepburn
3. "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." ~Mark Twain
4. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however, measured or far away." ~ Henry David Thoreau
5. "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. "As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others." ~Audrey Hepburn
7. "Don't criticize what you can't understand." ~Bob Dylan
8. "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." ~Shakespeare
9. "We gain the strength of the temptation we resist." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
10. "The earlier you learn that you should focus on what you have, and not obsess about what you don't have, the happier you will be." ~Amy Poehler
11. "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is the lightning that does the work." ~Mark Twain
12. "You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how
soon it will be too late." ~
Ralph Waldo Emerson
13. "I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter." ~ Walt Disney
14. "Better three hours too soon than a minute too late." ~Shakespeare
15. "When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat." ~Nelson Mandela
16. "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." ~Winston Churchill
17. "But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?" ~Mark Twain
18. "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." ~ Confucius
19. "A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything." ~Malcolm X
20. "Life is what happens while you are busy making other
plans." ~
John Lennon
21."Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do." ~Voltaire
22. "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." ~Marie Curie
23. "Choose people who lift you up." ~Michelle Obama
24. "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." ~ Robert Frost
25. "Things don't have to change the world to be important." ~ Steve Jobs
26. "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." ~ E.E. Cummings
27. "We learned about honesty and integrity- that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square." ~Michelle Obama
