Emily Weiss Quotes

All the characters on 'Girls' are growing and changing, which is how real people behave, especially when we're young, trying to figure out who we are, doing things that are the polar opposite of our characteristics.

I really like coming-of-age dramas. It's probably the most intense period in anyone's life, those years before you become an adult. Dramatically, there's so much to explore there. And it's nice to be around young talent coming through.

I just wanted to do something about the teenage experience; it's such a wonderful and horrible time of life.

I never felt like I had anything really figured out. When I was a teenager, it was all about teenagers having an 'identity crisis.' That was the phrase that was used. But in my early 20s, I was still like, 'When am I going to be over that?'

I think in the experience of growing up and realizing who you are, what your place in the world is can be quite scary.

I think that from 15 to, like, 18, I went through a very rough time. Something basically everyone goes through in those years - not knowing what you're going to do.

When I was between 18 and 25 it was like I had problem finding the middle of my personality.

'I Am Number Four' is a great story about a guy who's trying to find his destiny and figure out who he is and his identity.

Books for teens are amazing and compelling, I think, because they're generally set in a time in people's lives when they are uncertain about who they are and who they love and what the right thing is to do.

I actually was rebelling as all young adults tend to do at or around the age of 19, to experiment with their lives and have fun.

Well, the years from 10 to 20, when your body, mind and everything is like changing every five minutes, can be pretty torturing. And most of the interesting characters, I think, are somewhat tortured or torturous. I'm 20 now, so I'm only just an adult.

My characters tend to be more dynamic because they're reaching that point in their lives where their old way of being is breaking down. They're conflicted by the idea that they don't know what's next. You could call it Kierkegaard's leap of faith, when you get tired of sort of reinventing yourself on a very superficial level.

Adolescence represents an inner emotional upheaval, a struggle between the eternal human wish to cling to the past and the equally powerful wish to get on with the future.

I feel like I didn't know who I was when I was 15. I don't feel like you're who you are for life, not even when you're 20.

Many a man who has known himself at ten forgets himself utterly between ten and thirty.

For whatever reason, I decided: 'I'm 18, I'm a man, I'm going to grow a moustache' - and it was pathetic for years - it was awful.

I've always enjoyed the teen angst thing. I had a lot of teen angst as I was growing up, so I think I have a lot to say about it through characters before I have to move on.

Being 21 years old is not easy in the sense that you're still trying to get to know yourself.

I don't like the term mid-life crisis.

Everything when you're a teenager is a projection. Or at least, for me, it was. 'Who am I gonna be?'

It's interesting because, even with 'Beetlejuice,' I was an awkward kid. I started at puberty and went through it on film. Lydia was one of my favorite roles because I related to her a lot.

In young adult novels and children's books, you stay in moment. The story goes through a school year or a weekend. You never get a sense of a future self because the young person has not lived that yet.

Peter Parker's storyline hits every key point of growing up.

As a teenager, you're still discovering who you are, what your life is about, and who you want to be as a person. It's very intense.

As a lonely teenager growing up in Virginia, I fed off any pop culture that could show me different ways of being from what I saw on 'The Cosby Show' reruns or read about in an Ann M. Martin book.