A History of Complaints About the Laziness of Youth
Barack Obama (2014)
44th President of the United States
I tell you, this generation coming up — they’re the most educated, the most tolerant, the most technologically advanced... but they also want the corner office on day one.
George H. W. Bush (1987)
41st President of the United States
I'm conservative, but I'm not a nut about it.
Winston Churchill (1940)
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during WWII
To each, there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.
Herbert Hoover (1934)
31st President of the United States
Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.
Woodrow Wilson (1910)
28th President of the United States; President of Princeton University
We want one class of persons to have a liberal education... and another class of persons, a very much larger class... to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.
William James (1902)
American philosopher and psychologist; founder of pragmatism
The moral fibre of youth is not what it was. The comforts of modern life have dulled their sense of urgency. They are more likely to debate than to do, more comfortable dreaming than enduring.
Horace Mann (1855)
Pioneer of American public education reform
Children of this generation are inclined to indulgence and impatient with discipline. The classroom once demanded attentiveness; now, it must compete with the idle allure of trivial amusement. I fear a future where learning is seen as a burden, not a privilege.
John Quincy Adams (1823)
6th President of the United States
Where once young men rose with the sun to earn their keep, now they linger idly and expect inheritance over enterprise. I see a corrosion of character taking hold. If youth cannot be stirred to virtue, the Republic itself will weaken.
Lord Chesterfield (1800s)
British statesman and author of famous 'Letters to His Son'
There was once a respect for manners, for labor, for diligence. I now observe children contradicting their elders with impunity and boasting of ease over effort. A genteel society cannot be sustained by such insolence.
Samuel Johnson (1778)
English writer and moralist
Every age mourns the loss of virtue in its successors, yet it appears that today the decline is real. Young men are trifling with their time, scorning honest labor, and craving indulgence. If idleness continues to rise, England will trade her strength for decadence.
Benjamin Franklin (1749)
Founding Father of the United States
To see the youth in our cities idle and insolent is a great concern. They walk the streets with pride but little purpose. If they knew the satisfaction of work and the pride of earning one's bread, they might cease their complaints and learn virtue.
Jonathan Swift (1729)
Irish satirist and author of Gulliver’s Travels
What hope is there for a nation whose youth consider effort an imposition and labor beneath them? In my own day, discipline was the root of success; now, comfort is king. They would rather jest than journey, rather boast than build.
Daniel Defoe (1704)
English trader, spy, and author of Robinson Crusoe
The young men of today are hardly men at all. With silver spoons and idle company, they are strangers to enterprise and toil. England's fortune was made by hardship; it may be unmade by sloth.
King Louis XIV of France (1690)
The Sun King; longest reigning monarch in European history
My court is full of youth who wish the trappings of power without the patience to learn its burdens. They speak endlessly of glory but shrink from duty. I fear they love France less than they love their reflection.
John Milton (1644)
English poet and civil servant under Cromwell
Learning once demanded struggle. Today our youth want poets' praise without practicing a line. They recite liberty, yet cannot endure restraint. Such minds are not yet free — only unruled.
Francis Bacon (1620)
Philosopher and early advocate of scientific method
In these times, it is seen that young minds are more apt to challenge than to comprehend. They thirst for knowledge, yet lack the discipline to acquire it. Our future must rest on minds both eager and tempered, lest it rest on none at all.
King James I of England (1605)
King of England and Scotland; namesake of King James Bible
Our youth are grown insolent beyond measure. They shun prayer and prefer jest, they mock service and worship self. It is not idleness that shames them, but their pride in idling.
Peter the Hermit (1274)
Medieval preacher often (possibly apocryphally) cited on generational decline
The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age; they are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them.
John of Salisbury (1159)
English philosopher and bishop
The young are forever disputing, ridiculing their elders, and scorning authority. They rush into opinion without knowledge, and hold all tradition in contempt. If this be wisdom, then folly has found a new name.
Alcuin of York (800)
Scholar and advisor to Charlemagne
Never have I seen the sons of noblemen so averse to learning. They grow idle in the shadow of privilege, and waste their youth in trifles. If they do not change, no school nor church shall be safe from ignorance.
Horace (20 BCE)
Roman lyric poet
Our sires' age was worse than our grandsires'. We, their sons, are more worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more corrupt.
Socrates (via Plato) (400 BCE)
Greek philosopher, foundational figure in Western thought
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They contradict their parents, gobble up their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
Hesiod (700 BCE)
Greek poet and author of Works and Days
I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.
Endnotes
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Town Hall, Yangon, Myanmar, November 14, 2014.
George H. W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, interview, 1987.