“Childhood, at its best, is a perpetual adventure, in the truest sense of that overtaxed word: a setting forth into trackless lands that might have come to existence the instant before you first laid eyes on them.” FirstsMightEyeExistenceLandChildhoodAdventureSettingSettingsInstantPerpetualTruest Book:Maps and Legends Source: Maps and Legends
“The thing that strikes me now when I think about the Wilderness of Childhood is the incredible degree of freedom my parents gave me to adventure there. A very grave, very significant shift in our idea of childhood has occurred since then. The Wilderness of Childhood is gone; the days of adventure are past. The land ruled by children, to which a kid might exile himself for at least some portion of every day from the neighboring kingdom of adulthood, has in large part been taken over, co-opted, colonized, and finally absorbed by the neighbors.” ThinkingChildrenIdeasMightKidsPastParentGoneTakenLandChildhoodAdventureDegreesIncrediblesStrikesNeighborSignificantGravesKingdomsWildernessPortionsAdulthoodExile Author:Michael Chabon
“In civilized places idleness, once the prerequisite for abstract thought, poetry, religion, philosophy, and falling in love, has become a character flaw. In America we've managed to stamp it out almost completely, and few people under forty can remember a single moment of it, even in earliest childhood. The phrase 'spare time' has vanished from the land.” PeoplePhilosophyMomentsCharacterAmericaRememberFallLandChildhoodFalling In LovePhrasesAbstractFortyFlawsCivilizedSparesStampsIdlenessSingle MomPhilosophy Of ReligionPrerequisitesSpare TimeCharacter Flaws Book:Wasn't the Grass Greener?: A Curmudgeon's Fond Memories Source: Wasn't the Grass Greener?: A Curmudgeon's Fond Memories
“Many children grow through adolescence with no ripples whatever and land smoothly and predictably in the adult world with both feet on the ground. Some who have stumbled and bumbled through childhood suddenly burst into bloom. Most shake, steady themselves, zigzag, fight, retreat, pick up, take new bearings, and finally find their own true balance.” WorldChildrenFightingGrowsFeetLandChildhoodBalancePicksAdultsShakesSteadyAdolescenceRetreatRippleFeet On The Ground Author:Stella Chess
“One can imagine a time when men who still inhabit organic bodies are regarded with pity by those who have passed on to an infinitely richer mode of existence, capable of throwing their consciousness or sphere of attention instantaneously to any point on land, sea, or sky where there is a suitable sensing organ. In adolescence we leave childhood behind; one day there may be a second and more portentous adolescence, when we bid farewell to the flesh.” MenMayStillsBodyBehindsExistenceAttentionConsciousnessImagineSeaSkyLandChildhoodOne DayCapableFleshPityThrowingSpheresOrgansAdolescenceFarewellSuitableSensing Book:Profiles Of The Future Source: Profiles Of The Future