Top 100 Teen Quotes of All Time

A short, finished list rather than an endless feed: 100 of the best teen quotes ever written, picked out of the full teen archive on QuoteForever. You will find Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Fonda, Robin Wasserman and Willie Aames among them.

Read the list top to bottom, or use it as a starting point - every author name links to everything else they said, and every quote has its own page you can share or turn into an image.

1

Everybody is a teenage idol.

2

Well, I actually first got into music as a small child, and as I became a teen, I sought out making money from music, weather that was singing lounge gigs, backup in studios, or weddings.

3

Once a teen has been identified as part of the 'target market,' he knows he's done for. The object of the game is to confound the marketers, and keep one's own, authentic culture from showing up at the shopping mall as a prepackaged corporate product.

4

No matter how good you are, at some point your kids are gonna have to create their own independence and think that Mom and Dad aren't cool, just to establish themselves. That's what adolescence is about. They're gonna go through that no matter what.

5

The area of teenage life is not necessarily rarefied; we've all gone through that period. It's not as rarefied as a western or a space adventure or a gangster film, but it has its own dynamic.

6

I really liked 'Starter For Ten' because I grew up watching 1980s teen films like 'St. Elmo's Fire' and 'The Breakfast Club' and I've always wanted to play the underdog lead hero in a 1980s-inspired film.

7

If you just watch a teenager, you see a lot of uncertainty.

8

Well, I could do it for a day, but I wouldn't want to be a teenager again. I really wouldn't.

9

If we as a nation are to break the cycle of poverty, crime and the growing underclass of young people ill equipped to be productive citizens, we need to not only implement effective programs to prevent teen pregnancy, but we must also help those who have already given birth so that they become effective, nurturing, bonding parents.

10

It's about time we make the well-being of our young people more important than ideology and politics. As a country, we benefit from investing in their future by investing in teen pregnancy prevention.

11

I did work at a mall in college - I think retail/customer service is just one of the most hideous jobs in the world. So I always try to be extra nice when I go into a store. But malls are part of our culture, if you watched any teen comedy in the '80s. it's clear that malls are where we live!

12

Adolescence isn't just about prom or wearing sparkly dresses.

13

All teenagers have this desire to somehow run away.

14

I was a teen star. That's disgusting enough.

15

My teenage years were exactly what they were supposed to be. Everybody has their own path. It's laid out for you. It's just up to you to walk it.

16

It hasn't been until the last couple years that I've started playing close to my age. But it's fun playing the younger roles because it takes you back to the teen years.

17

It's important to me that I don't get trapped in the whole teen scene, because I feel that you can get lost in those kind of movies, and they aren't really about the actors; they're about the selling of the concept, and how much money it makes.

18

I don't want to be a 'teen star' because so many people don't ever grow out of that.

19

As a unique person, I was bullied badly as a teen.

20

If I can write a book that will help the world make a little more sense to a teen, then that's why I was put on the planet.

21

Frank Sinatra is the only one that went from teen idol to superstar.

22

I'm so fascinated by the concept of teen pregnancy for some reason. Not that I condone it or promote it, but it's just a very real thing in our country and culture.

23

When I was growing up, particularly during puberty in my teen years, I was so miserable because I elicited so much teasing and meanness from my teenage cohorts.

24

Most people, almost everyone knows of a teen mom. Teen pregnancy rates are growing, and we need to bring awareness to that.

25

I saw myself as an outsider as a teen. I was home-schooled and got my G.E.D. when I was 16; I wasn't interested in high school at all and figured that college might be more entertaining.

26

Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small portion of their gifts.

27

When I started writing, there was nothing about zombies. It was all teen movies, which to me are scarier than zombies, but that's another story.

28

I actually love writing for teens best. I had such an awful time in my own teen years - I love having the chance to relive them through my fiction.

29

I grew up in a difficult environment, but I became a Christian as a teen. My mom and my sister soon became Christians also.

30

Doesn't matter whether it's a teen girl who's pregnant, hasn't told her parents, or an elderly couple dealing with one of them being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Those are real people to me. Those are the people I dealt with every single day.

31

At the age of 16 I was already dreaming of having a baby because I felt myself to be an adult, but my mum forbid it. Right now, I feel like a teenager and I want to have fun for one or two more years before starting a family.

32

Honestly, I never thought I'd actually be playing a teen lesbian. I didn't think it was going to go this far. But I'm glad that it did, because there have been a lot of fans who have expressed that they've been going through similar situations in their lives.

33

I was a happy kid up until I hit the teen years.

34

When I started out as a music journalist, at the end of the 1980s, it was generally assumed that we were living through the lamest music era the world would ever see. But those were also the years when hip-hop exploded, beatbox disco soared, indie rock took off, and new wave invented a language of teen angst.

35

I have always had a sense that we are all pretty much alone in life, particularly in adolescence.

36

For me, the teen years were all about searching for a place for myself, wondering why I seemed so different than everyone else, wondering especially why no one could look past the surface and figure out who I really was underneath.

37

Teen fiction should be about teenagers - no matter how many arguments there are about what YA lit should be, this seems like the one thing we can all agree on.

38

I wouldn't say I'm stuck in my adolescence, but I think, like a lot of people, I carry my teen years with me. I feel really in touch with those feelings, and how intense and complicated life seems in those years.

39

I could have been on a path that led to different, more traditional teen romance, and 'Nip/Tuck' shook me loose from any generalization I might have been forced into. It helped me understand I wanted to take on things that were edgier, more challenging and riskier.

40

I was a teen idol and that has a short shelf life.

41

I write edgy, sexy teen romances, and that's what I'll continue to do.

42

Teen problem novels? I can go through them like a box of chocolates. And there are fantasy books out now that need a lot more editing. Fantasy got to be so popular that people began to think 'We don't need to be as diligent with the razor blade,' but they do.

43

I take mentoring very seriously and I am on the board of an organization called Girls Write Now, where we match teen girls and writing mentors because it changes their lives.

44

Growing up, I didn't have a lot of toys, and personal entertainment depended on individual ingenuity and imagination - think up a story and go live it for an afternoon.

45

We won a contest at the teen fair in Vancouver and the first prize was a recording contract and we recorded at a radio station on the stairway, and we did a record and it got put out.

46

You need to know what makes artists tick. Having been through the process myself as a musician, since I was an early teen, gave me an advantage - understanding them from their point of view, because it's about them, it's not about you - it's their vision and what they're capable of achieving, and you're the conduit.

47

Since my teen years I was interested in martial arts.

48

I spent the first fourteen years of my life convinced that my looks were hideous. Adolescence is painful for everyone, I know, but mine was plain weird.

49

I didn't want to be the typical teen idol. I didn't want to be Leif Garrett. I didn't want to be Shaun Cassidy, David Cassidy or Parker Stevenson. I wanted to do my own thing.

50

Being a teen idol or being a heartthrob on all the magazines, with Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, and Scott Baio - it was embarrassing! I never understood it. I mean, why me? I never really got it.

51

I have this sense that I didn't really start growing up until my twenties.

52

You've got to grow up sometime.

53

People love teen movies because everyone can relate.

54

I watch a lot of teen TV and read a lot of YA novels. I also talk to teens whenever I can. There are cultural differences between when I was a teen and now, but emotions - anger, angst, love - are the same.

55

My writing books with positive gay characters has come more out of anger than anything else: anger at not having been able to find honest, accurate books about people like myself as a teen, books that show we're as diverse as straight people and that we can lead happy, healthy, productive lives just as straight people can.

56

Lesley Gore's part-time field was pop singer, and in her brief but urgent prime, she was the Queen of Teen Angst. She endured heartbreak as a birthday girl betrayed by her beau in 'It's My Party,' savored revenge in the sequel 'Judy's Turn to Cry' and belted the proto-feminist anthem 'You Don't Own Me.'

57

Weird Al was something that kids would listen to. It's funny, super funny, smart. It's just kind of jokey. I remember hearing 'Smells Like Nirvana' before hearing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' That's how it really worked. I think it's just such a cool thing how he introduced us to so many cool bands. Even Queen - 'Another One Rides the Bus.'

58

When my dad left public life, I was 13 years old. I went through my teen years and into adulthood in relative anonymity. After my dad's funeral, I was suddenly recognizable to people I passed on the street.

59

We don't tend to write about disease in fiction - not just teen novels but all American novels - because it doesn't fit in with our idea of the heroic romantic epic. There is room only for sacrifice, heroism, war, politics and family struggle.

60

Prosecutors say it would be next to impossible to get one teen to testify in court that another had slipped him or her a copied disc at lunchtime. And besides, isn't sharing music a time-honored part of teen friendship?

61

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

62

At the time I came along, Hollywood's idea of teen movies meant there had to be a lot of nudity, usually involving boys in pursuit of sex, and pretty gross overall. Either that or a horror movie. And the last thing Hollywood wanted in their teen movies was teenagers!

63

Telling a teenager the facts of life is like giving a fish a bath.

64

Teenagers who are never required to vacuum are living in one.

65

But when I was a teenager, the idea of spending the rest of my life in a factory was real depressing. So the idea that I could become a musician opened up some possibilities I didn't see otherwise.

66

I like having young assistants in my office; they have energy, and I spend time with them to make sure they understand what we're doing. By investing in them, I'm investing in the magazine. All over 'Vogue,' 'Teen Vogue,' and 'Men's Vogue,' there are people who have been through not only my office but also many other offices at 'Vogue.'

67

I grew up watching 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and used to dream that I would grow up to be just like her. In a way, 'Teen Wolf' has a lot of those kinds of characters. We're just kids by day, and yet we're trying to fight demons and werewolves and bad people and save people that we love.

68

I love writing about the summer between high school and college. It's the last gasp of really being a teen.

69

There's a freshness to the approach of teen chefs. They're lighthearted, and they're not afraid to take risks.

70

As a teenager, I didn't read a ton of teen fiction, and now I feel like I wish that I had.

71

There's a theory about fame: the moment it strikes, it arrests development. Michael Jackson remained suspended in childhood, enjoying sleepovers and funfairs; Winona Ryder, an errant teen who dabbled in shoplifting and experimented with pills; George Clooney, a 30-year-old commitment-phobe, never quite ready yet to settle down.

72

There was a three-year chunk as a teen where I should have been tranquilized and put in a cage.

73

I just felt being part of my peer group so strongly. I was immersed in teen culture, but not taken in by it.

74

Robin McKinley's 'The Blue Sword' was a defining book of my teen years, and I'd love to have more books like that in the world.

75

Can you imagine peaking as a teen? I think if you peak in high school, there's a problem. That's what my sister always said: 'Don't worry, you'll peak later.'

76

Cartoons are the best stuff on TV. 'Wonder Showzen,' 'Aqua Teen,' 'SpongeBob,' and, of course, 'South Park' - one of the funniest shows ever made.

77

I've met so many new fans and amazing people while traveling to new cities and locations throughout 2017 in support of my album 'American Teen.'

78

I was quite discerning the first year and when I was doing 'The Vampire Diaries' thing I was like, 'I'm really not sure if I want to do this; it's this whole teen thing, which I've done in England.' My agent was like, 'Don't be silly, you'll make great money and everything.' But I wasn't sure.

79

Fifth grade was when I first heard 'Smells Like Teen Spirit;' it was the energy, and his voice. I liked 311 and Sublime, too, though that might have been a little after that.

80

'Awkward' is a ubiquitous teen word to denote socially unsanctioned behavior. It usually implies first- or secondhand embarrassment when you or a friend step outside the rules. Awkward doesn't sound overtly judgmental or negative; it's deliberately vague.

81

Like me as a teen - and like many teenagers now - my characters are at a peculiar crossroads in their lives. They desperately seek freedom. But at the same time, they are constantly thwarted.

82

Let us develop an agenda for children that says we can do something about teen pregnancy. Let us make sure that parents are old enough, wise enough, and financially able to take care of their children.

83

In 'Teen Wolf,' I don't really have any stunts. And if I do, it's like Stiles falls on the ground or something like that.

84

I'm ashamed to say, but as a teen, there were times when I had to go to the church and get help.

85

I won Miss Teen World, and then a movie rep saw me on the pageant website and thought that I had the perfect image for the role in 'Madrasapattinam.'

86

Sometimes people come up to me and say, 'You were my teen crush.' I'm honored and I'm touched, but I also ask, 'What happened? Why'd you take the poster down?' I get a little heartbroken in that situation.

87

I've had a lot of compulsions throughout my life which mainly started as a teen around the time I was doing exams.

88

I used to play 'Grand Theft Auto' when I was an early teen, between eleven and thirteen.

89

I'm really loving Billie Eilish's 'idontwannabeyouanymore.' Her dreamy vocals offer such a lovely moment of escape, and there's a sophistication to the lyrics that are so surprising coming from a teen artist.

90

By the time I was a teen, I was an expert at scanning people's faces, always in search of eyes like mine. I devoured glossy magazines, ever mindful of the language we used to talk about beauty. The sections on how to apply makeup intrigued me most precisely because their audience never included me.

91

A departure from the movie with Michael J. Fox, 'Teen Wolf' tells the story of how a group of angsty teens deal with werewolves, their supernatural kin and the world of trouble that comes with it, all while trying to still live their lives.

92

With any teen show, there's going to be drama and heartache.

93

My mother wrote a teen column for the South China Morning Post in the 1950s when she was growing up in Hong Kong. Her name was Lily Mark, but she sometimes wrote under her confirmation name, Margaret Mark. That was how she met my father.

94

I was one of those daughters who saw my mother as my enemy when I was a teen.

95

'Teen Spirit' is a celebration of the power that music can deliver to the cinematic experience.

96

If you were an optimistic teen, then you'll be an optimist at 80. People's reactions to bad events are highly stable over a half century or more.

97

During my teen years, I just really started to get anxiety. I would get stage fright when I would do certain speaking engagements and I always would get through them, but it was a really nerve-racking and hard thing to do.

98

I'm not a teen anymore, but growing up, some of my favorite things were, like, 'Twin Peaks,' which wasn't even really my time, and this is one of the things, like a weird, quirky, small town mystery.

99

I can have a song with Ariana Grande that is going to be the song for all the kids and the teen girls, and then another song that could be for a different group of people who all love the song. I'm with whoever. Whatever type of people want to love the music and whatever they love about the music is fine with me.

100

I never listened to the Grateful Dead as a teen; the only exposure I got was what came through the walls when my sister was listening to them.

More Teen quotes

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