Stephen Colbert Quotes

I'm not as hopeful as I was when I was young.

Perhaps the biggest myth about cynicism is that it deepens with age. I think what really happens is that experience painfully rips away layers of scales from our eyes, and so we do indeed become more cynical about many of the things we naively accepted when younger.

I'm not naive.

She was not too young to be wise, but she was too young to know that wisdom shouldn't be spoken aloud when you are happy.

Anne laughed and sighed. She felt very old and mature and wise — which showed how young she was.

It was so rare to find someone who was both so young and so wise, both so fresh and so jaded.

Alas! innocence is but a poor substitute for experience.

Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.

I feel old and vulnerable. I now realise that I knew nothing and know nothing, but back when my career was beginning, I thought I was a man when, in fact, I was a dewy-eyed boy who'd not seen an avocado or eaten a tomato.

People often yearn back to more innocent times, but more and more, as I get older, I find myself hankering after more jaded days.

Reason is a crutch for age, but youth is strong enough to walk alone.

A lot of 18-year-olds are like old men. They think they've seen everything.

In youth and beauty, wisdom is but rare!

You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.

If youth is a defect, it is one we outgrow too soon.

If youth be a defect, it is one that we outgrow only too soon.

I'm too busy acting like I'm not Naive. I've seen it all, I was here first.

When you're 20, you think you know a lot more than you do.

I've been around a long time. I've seen it all before.

Back when I was an idealistic 18-year-old on my way to Chicago, I might have believed that being on the side of virtue would guarantee a good outcome. These many years later, I know better.

It is not hoary hairs that bring wisdom; some have an old head on young shoulders.

Be innocent, wise and ninety-five.

I wouldn't say that I dislike the young. I'm simply not a fan of naïveté.

Passion is a young man's game. Young people can be passionate. Older people gotta be more wise. I mean, you're around awhile, you leave certain things to the young. Don't try to act like you're young. You could really hurt yourself.

I am not cynical. I am just old. I know what is going to happen next.