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Youth is wasted on the young

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on April 05, 2006

In Reply to: Youth is wasted on the young posted by ashley on April 05, 2006

: I need to know the meaning of youth is wasted on the young. what does that actually mean?

You must be young. It means young people are full of energy and vitality but they fritter away opportunity after opportunity to put their talents to good use, preferring to spend their time playing video games and other pointless pursuits. The idea that "youth is wasted on the young" probably came to someone in their 30's as they got up to feed the baby at 2:00AM knowing they had to get up for work in 4 hours. The new parent must have wondered how it was so easy in college to party until 2:00 and get up for an 8:00 class like it was no big deal. Now just a few short years later they can barely function without a full 8 hours' sleep. At least, that's how I imagine this phrase may have come about. I'm sure the idea goes back thousands of years.

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