youth is wasted on the young
Syllables: youth is wast·ed on the youngUK/ˌjuːθ‿ɪz ˈweɪstɪd‿ɒn ðə ˈjʌŋ//ˌjuθ‿ɪz ˈweɪstɪd‿ɑn ðə ˈjʌŋ/
youth is wasted on the young phrase: young people often fail to fully appreciate or utilize the vitality and opportunities that come with youth.
Phrase
youth is wasted on the young
- Young people often fail to fully appreciate or utilize the vitality and opportunities that come with youth.
- Mark Twain once remarked that it is a pity youth is wasted on the young. Why do we think youth is wasted on the young? […] It [youth] is only valued after our eyes are dull and step no longer spry.1937 December 1, “Priceless Possession is Seen in Having Youth and Guarding Its Gifts”, in Mary Harrison Vaughan, editor, The Rotunda, Farmville, Va.: State Teachers College, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2...
- What is it [George Bernard] Shaw says—a pity youth is wasted on the young. Miss Lanahan, what are you doing with your life?1943 April, Ann Pinchot, “Rival to My Heart: Part 2”, in Otis Wiese, editor, McCall’s, New York, N.Y.: McCall Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 37, column 1
Examples of youth is wasted on the young in a sentence
- The adage that youth is wasted on the young aches your body, for you know that even youth itself, does not have the time to burst forth with all the energy that nature prescribed for it.1966 October 20, Peter Harris, “Student’s thoughts drift in the fall”, in Fred Thomas, editor, The Daily Tar Heel, volume 74, number 33...
- George Bernard Shaw was right on the mark when he suggested that it's a pity youth is wasted on the young.1979, Joseph F. Coates, “Social Security in the Year 2000: How to Get There and Where will We be when We Do?”, in David Pearce Snyder...
- But like they say, youth is wasted on the young, and I would also say that wisdom is wasted on the old.1983, Lawrence Bush, “1906”, in Bessie, New York, N.Y.: Seaview/Putnam, →ISBN, part 1, page 56:
- It is often said that youth is wasted on the young, but Joseph Szabo's remarkable photographs of that brief span between puberty and baby adulthood seek another determination.2003 November, Edward Helmore, “Teenage Graceland: Joseph Szabo Captures Adolescents’ Secret World”, in Graydon Carter, editor, Vanity...
Origin of youth is wasted on the young
Origin uncertain. The phrase is often attributed to the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) (see, for example, the 1943 and 1979 quotations), but does not appear to be from any of his published works. It is sometimes also said to be by other people such as the American writer Mark Twain (1835–1910) and the Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde (1854–1900): see the 1937 and 2006 quotations.
Words that rhyme with youth is wasted on the young
Questions about youth is wasted on the young
- What does youth is wasted on the young mean?
- Youth is wasted on the young means young people often fail to fully appreciate or utilize the vitality and opportunities that come with youth.
- How do you use youth is wasted on the young in a sentence?
- The adage that youth is wasted on the young aches your body, for you know that even youth itself, does not have the time to burst forth with all the energy that nature prescribed for it.
- What part of speech is youth is wasted on the young?
- Youth is wasted on the young is a phrase.
- How do you pronounce youth is wasted on the young?
- Youth is wasted on the young is pronounced /ˌjuːθ‿ɪz ˈweɪstɪd‿ɒn ðə ˈjʌŋ/ (UK).
Words near youth is wasted on the young in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: youth is wasted on the young (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-youth is wasted on the young.oga.
Cite this entry: “youth is wasted on the young.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/youth_is_wasted_on_the_young. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.