The 2,500-Year-Old History of Adults Blaming The Younger Generation PDF

25/12/2019 The 2,500-Year-Old History of Adults Blaming the Younger Generation
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The 2,500-Year-Old History of

Adults Blaming the Younger
Generation
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Long before Tide Pods, we were blaming “millennials” in some form or another
for ruining everything we hold sacred, and having no morals or intelligence.
But somehow those hooligans grow up to say the same thing. And over and
over it goes. Here are 25 quotes, going back to ancient Athens, that prove it:
4th Century B.C.E.

“[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by
life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances.
…
They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.”
Rhetoric, Aristotle (https://historyhustle.com/this-quote-shows-aristotle-

theorized-evolution-2200-years-before-darwin/)
4th Century BC
1st Century B.C.E.

“The beardless youth… does not foresee what is useful, squandering his money.”
Horace
1st Century BC

“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.”
Book III of Odes, Horace

circa 20 BC
1300’s
Selling your data since 1400 C.E.
“Modern fashions seem to keep on growing more and more debased … The
ordinary spoken language has also steadily coarsened. People used to say ‘raise
the carriage shafts’ or ‘trim the lamp wick,’ but people today say ‘raise it’ or ‘trim
it.’ When they should say, ‘Let the men of the palace staff stand forth!’ they say,
y y p y y
‘Torches! Let’s have some light!’”
Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), Yoshida Kenkō

1330 – 1332
1600’s
“Youth were never more sawcie, yea never more savagely saucie . . . the ancient
are scorned, the honourable are contemned, the magistrate is not dreaded.”
The Wise-Man’s Forecast against the Evill Time, Thomas Barnes

1624

“… I nd by sad Experience how the Towns and Streets are lled with lewd
wicked Children, and many Children as they have played about the Streets have
been heard to curse and swear and call one another Nick-names, and it would
grieve ones Heart to hear what bawdy and lthy Communications proceeds
from the Mouths of such…”
A Little Book for Children and Youth – Being Good Counsel and Instructions for
Your Children, Earnestly Exhorting Them to Resist the Temptation of the Devil,
Robert Russel
1695
1700’s
“Whither are the manly vigour and athletic appearance of our forefathers
own? Can these be their legitimate heirs? Surely, no; a race of effeminate, self-
admiring, emaciated fribbles can never have descended in a direct line from the
heroes of Potiers and Agincourt…”
Letter in Town and Country magazine republished in Paris Fashion: A Cultural

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1771 (https://historyhustle.com/privacy-policy)

“The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays
has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth…”
Memoirs of the Bloomsgrove Family, Reverend Enos Hitchcock

1790
1800’s
Don’t talk back to me!
“…a fearful multitude of untutored savages… [boys] with dogs at their heels and
other evidence
This website uses of dissolute
cookies habits…[girls
for website who]
analytics and drive
to allow coal-carts,
ads. Accept ride astride
Privacy upon
Policy
horses, drink, swear, (https://historyhustle.com/privacy-policy)

ght, smoke, whistle, and care for nobody…the morals of
hild f ld h f l ”
children are tenfold worse than formerly.”
Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, Speech to the House of
Commons
February 28, 1843

“… see the simpering little beau of ten gallanting home the little coquette of
eight, each so full of self-conceit and admiration of their own dear self, as to
have but little to spare for any one else…”
“Children And Children’s Parties”, published in The Mothers’ Journal and

Family Visitant, S.B.S.
1853

“A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has spread all over the
country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in
cities and villages…chess is a mere amusement of a very inferior character,
which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler
acquirements … they require out-door exercises–not this sort of mental
gladiatorship.”
Scienti c American
July, 1858
1900 – 1920
“Never has youth been exposed to such dangers of both perversion and arrest
as in our own land and day. Increasing urban life with its temptations,
prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive stimuli just when an active
life is most needed, early emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty
and discipline…”
The Psychology of Adolescence, Granville Stanley Hall
y gy , y
1904
1920’s
“We defy anyone who goes about with his eyes open to deny that there is, as
never before, an attitude on the part of young folk which is best described as
grossly thoughtless, rude, and utterly sel sh.”
The Conduct of Young People, Hull Daily Mail

1925
1930’s
A spoiled brat.
“The bad manners of all parliaments, the general tendency to connive at a

rather shady business transaction if it promises to bring in money without
work, jazz … women painted like prostitutes, the efforts of writers to win
popularity by ridiculing…the correctness of well-bred people, and the bad taste
shown even by the nobility and old princely families in throwing off every kind
of social restraint and time-honoured custom: all of these go to prove that it is
now the vulgar mob that gives the tone.”
Hour of Decision, Oswald Spengler (translated by C.F. Atkinson, 1942)

1933

“Probably there is no period in history in which young people have given such
emphatic utterance to a tendency to reject that which is old and to wish for that
which is new.”
Young People Drinking More, Portsmouth Evening News

1936

“Cinemas and motor cars were blamed for a agging interest among young
people in present-day politics by ex-Provost JK Rutherford… [He] said he had
been told by people in different political parties that it was almost impossible to
get an audience for political meetings. There were, of course, many distractions
such as the cinema…”
Young People and Politics, Kirkintilloch Herald

1938

“Parents themselves were often the cause of many dif culties. They frequently
failed in their obvious duty to teach self-control and discipline to their own
children.”
Problems of Young People, Leeds Mercury

1938
1940’s
“…in youth clubs were young people who would not take part in boxing,
wrestling or similar exercises which did not appeal to them. The ‘tough guy’ of
the lms made some appeal but when it came to something that led to physical
strain or risk they would not take it.”
Young People Who Spend Too Much, Dundee Evening Telegraph

1945

“How to bring young people into membership of the Church was a pressing
problem raised at a meeting… Sunday School teachers in the audience had
found that children were apt to leave Sunday School when they had completed
their day school education. They were not following on into the church.”
Why Do Young People Neglect Religion?, Shield Daily News

1947
1950’s
Long-haired hooligans!
“It’s an irony, but so many of us are a cautious, nervous, conservative crew that
some of the elders who ve years ago feared that we might come trooping home
full of foreign radical ideas are now afraid that the opposite might be too true,
and that we could be lacking some of the old American gambling spirit and
enterprise.”
The Care and Handling of a Heritage: One of the “scared-rabbit” generation

reassures wild-eyed elders about future, Life
1950

“Many [young people] were so pampered nowadays that they had forgotten that
there was such a thing as walking, and they made automatically for the buses…
unless they did something, the future for walking was very poor indeed.”
Scottish Rights of Way: More Young People Should Use Them, Falkirk Herald
1951
1980’s
“A few [35-year-old friends] just now are leaving their parents’ nest. Many
friends are getting married or having a baby for the rst time. They aren’t
switching occupations, because they have nally landed a ‘meaningful’ career
– perhaps after a decade of hopscotching jobs in search of an identity. They’re
doing the kinds of things our society used to expect from 25-year-olds.”
Not Ready for Middle Age at 35, Wall Street Journal

1984
1990’s
“What really distinguishes this generation from those before it is that it’s the
rst generation in American history to live so well and complain so bitterly
about it.”
The Boring Twenties, Washington Post

1993

“The traditional yearning for a benevolent employer who can provide a job for
life also seems to be on the wane… In particular, they want to avoid ‘low-level
jobs that aren’t keeping them intellectually challenged.’”
Meet Generation X, Financial Times

1995
2000’s
“They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas
than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to
call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as
one zap of a TV dial.”
Proceeding with Caution, Time

2001
Sources:
Reddit
(https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/7btv14/the_more_things_change
_the_more_they_stay_the/)
BBC (http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20171003-proof-that-people-have-
always-complained-about-young-adults)
MIT (http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.mb.txt)
Mental Floss (http://mental oss.com/article/52209/15-historical-complaints-
about-young-people-ruining-everything)
Quote Investigator (https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehaving-
children-in-ancient-times/)
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25/12/2019 The 2,500-Year-Old History of Adults Blaming the Younger Generation

Ver esta página em: Português Traduzir Opções ▼

The 2,500-Year-Old History of

4th Century B.C.E.

Rhetoric, Aristotle (https://historyhustle.com/this-quote-shows-aristotle-

1st Century B.C.E.

Book III of Odes, Horace

Selling your data since 1400 C.E.

Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), Yoshida Kenkō

The Wise-Man’s Forecast against the Evill Time, Thomas Barnes

Letter in Town and Country magazine republished in Paris Fashion: A Cultural

Memoirs of the Bloomsgrove Family, Reverend Enos Hitchcock

Don’t talk back to me!

horses, drink, swear, (https://historyhustle.com/privacy-policy)

children are tenfold worse than formerly.”

“Children And Children’s Parties”, published in The Mothers’ Journal and

The Conduct of Young People, Hull Daily Mail

“The bad manners of all parliaments, the general tendency to connive at a

Hour of Decision, Oswald Spengler (translated by C.F. Atkinson, 1942)

Young People Drinking More, Portsmouth Evening News

Young People and Politics, Kirkintilloch Herald

Problems of Young People, Leeds Mercury

Young People Who Spend Too Much, Dundee Evening Telegraph

Why Do Young People Neglect Religion?, Shield Daily News

The Care and Handling of a Heritage: One of the “scared-rabbit” generation

Not Ready for Middle Age at 35, Wall Street Journal

The Boring Twenties, Washington Post

Meet Generation X, Financial Times

Proceeding with Caution, Time

History Hustle Weekly Newsletter

Your Email (required)

The hilarious reason why Lord Byron brought his

15 Hilarious History Memes You Need to See Right

 Previous (https://historyhustle.com/10- Next (https://historyhustle.com/coffee- 

Copyright 2018, History Hustle LLC

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