It's one of those unforgettable moments that happen as a child, when you discover that all along the world has been betraying you.

Children expect their mothers to love them, no matter what. Those who don't get this tend to feel cheated the rest of their lives.

So the first step out of childhood is made all at once, without looking before or behind, without caution, and nothing held in reserve.

No one ever forgets a toy that made him or her supremely happy as a child, even if that toy is replaced by one like it that is much nicer.

You can't choose your childhood, it's just what happens to you. But after that you choose. And that's really what (makes you).

The reason any person yaks excessively is because his communication is not being adequately acknowledged. He just keeps trying to be heard.

No teacher has the right to cure a child of making noises on a drum. The only curing that should be practiced is the curing of unhappiness.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Say what you will, dear sister, we do what we do for the promise of our youth. Yet it is always they who scar beneath the points of daggers.

I wept because I was re-experiencing the enthusiasm of my childhood; I was once again a child, and nothing in the world could cause me harm.

Remember, childhood only lasts 10-12 years. There's a lot that has to be squeezed in to make for a lifetime of happy memories. ♥

Children are the closest we have to wisdom, and they become adults the moment that final drop of everything mysterious is strained from them.

Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that.

Why were girls in such a hurry to grow up? Agatha would never understand. Childhood was magical. Leaving it behind was a magnificent loss.

What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.