10 Quotes About Not Growing Up
     Being a young adult writer, I get to experience the thrills and pitfalls of youth all over again through my characters. The reasons I chose this genre was for the unabashed enthusiasm of adolescence; the titillation of those first loves, first kisses, first heartbreaks and all that hope and confidence about the future. The teen years are the most exciting in a person's life because of the constant changes and tidal wave of new experiences. It's dizzying and delicious, or as Aristotle puts it, "The young are permanently in a state resembling intoxication." Yes, and isn't fantastic?

     Back when I was rocking mall bangs and hypercolor shirts, I vowed that I would never lose the sparkle and energy of the youthful mind. Goodness knows I've come close to growing cold and numb during the more trying times, but somehow I always emerge with passion and great expectations. I plan on staying young for at least another fifty years. Here's some advice on how to Stay Gold, Ponyboy.

1.) "Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind. You are as old as your doubt, your fear, your despair. The way to keep young is to keep your faith young. Keep your self-confidence young. Keep your hope young." - Luella I. Phean

2.) "Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much either." - Walt Disney

3.) "You're never too old to grow younger." - Mae West

4.) "The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm." - Aldous Huxley

5.) "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." - Henry Ford

6.) "We are always the same age inside." - Gertrude Stein

7.) Growing old is unavoidable, but never growing up is possible. I believe you can retain certain things from your childhood if you protect them- certain traits, certain places where you don't let the world go." - Johnny Depp

8.) "If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up. Not now!" - J.M. Barrie

9.) "In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play".  - Friedrich Nietzsche

10.) "My childhood may be over, but that doesn't mean playtime is.  ~Ron Olson