All the sanguine guesswork of youth is there, and the silliness; all the novelty of being alive and impressed by the urgency of tremendous trivialities.

— Siegfried Sassoon

And though you think the world is at your feet, it can rise up and tread on you.

— Ian McEwan

Arrived at an age when others had already long been married and had children and held important positions, and were obliged to produce the best that was in them with all their energy, I still regarded myself as youthful, a beginner who faced immeasurable time, and I was hesitant about final decisions of any kind.

— Stefan Zweig

But the character of the music emphasized the tale as allegory--humorous, poignant, humane allegory--disclosing the metamorphosis of life itself, in which man moves from confident inexperience through the bitterness of experience, toward the rueful wisdom of self-knowledge.

— Robertson Davies

Cynicism is often the shamefaced product of inexperience.

— A.J. Liebling

He held out a shaky and worn hand, and she met it with one of her young and inexperienced ones.

— S.A. Tawks

Inexperience can be overcome, ignorance can be enlightened, but prejudice will destroy you.

— Mercedes Lackey

I should have been bolder and kissed her at the end. I should have been more cautious. Furthermore, I had talked too much. Furthermore, I had said too little.

— Patrick Rothfuss

It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.

— Jon Krakauer

It was one of the few times in my teaching career that I got angry and showed it in class. I was young and inexperienced, and I thought certain standards were respected and understood.

— Azar Nafisi