Youth Quote Search

Welcome to the Striving to Thriving Youth Quote Library. Here you’ll find a curated collection of more than 5,700 quotes from young people ages 15-22 living in communities across the United States. In the library you can see how young people describe their multifaceted identities, how they understand and apply meaning to language around job, work and career, how they think about and assign value to relationships, networking and connections, and their future goals and the education and career choices they believe will lead them there. You can also view additional notes on curation, categories and filters. 

  • Impact of family
  • Pathways

“[My parents] helped me study for those tests that I needed to pass.”

Participant:

  • Yakima, WA
  • Hispanic
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Imagining their future selves

[By age 70] “Retired, traveling or dead. That is a long time.”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Challenges and Barriers
  • Naysayers and bullying

“Once you get the career you want, you make yourself proud. I actually did this without giving up. Your parents get proud; people around you are like she actually did it. People who doubt you are like wow. There are people who doubt you, and they are like you are not going to do it. I want to be a doctor. I have people say you are going to give up – being a doctor is so hard. They get paid so much money and they are not really happy. That is what I want to do. I want to make those people be like oh she actually did it and she is happy doing it.”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Challenges and Barriers
  • Personal traits and experiences

“I put quit procrastination, wage and competition…There are a lot of photographers in Colorado. I just want to be the best…[Reduce procrastination by] believing in myself more and having help from my mom and other photographers and not be hard on myself.”

Participant:

  • Pueblo, CO
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Perceptions of entrepreneurship

“I find being an entrepreneur and running your own business is challenging because you are the boss and you founded some type of business and company that will have its purpose.”

Participant:

  • Belle Glade, FL
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Reflections on Focus Group Experience
  • Takeaways

“I feel like me and Britney kind of connected about like her, our futures. And like as I see like the route she’s talking about like going to the military and letting them pay, like that’s something to think about now. Like when I’m at home in my spare time, I could, you know, research different paths to take other than mine and see which one is the best fit for me.”

Participant:

  • Greenville, MS
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Challenges and Barriers
  • Personal traits and experiences

“Worrying about what other people think.”

Participant:

  • Belle Glade, FL
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Inspiration and motivations

“I used to do pageants, and I always wanted that to be my career. I always see on TV, and I’m like I want to be that.”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Learning About Work
  • Trying on professions

“I tried out a call center job and I hated it. There were too many rules and I am not good at hardcore sales. I found NOTHING valuable about my call center experience! This was the job that gave me the idea of entrepreneurship. I knew I would never be able to work for someone else my entire life.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • Black
  • male
  • 26-29
  • mixed income
  • How young people think about relationships
  • Relationships, Connections & Networking

“I think that connections and networking are really important for my career, my passion career that will make me money. Just being open to talking to people and just starting a conversation, and I think people can be really open to some of my ideas if I start to get to know them and keep it light at first and then get into it. I feel like I have already made a lot of connections from a young age because of a lot of the experiences I’ve had…”

Participant:

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • white
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income