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Everyone Thinks You Make Mistakes When You're Young. But I Don't Think We Make Any Fewer When We're Grown Up
-Jodi Picoult
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Everyone Thinks You Make

Jodi Picoult
...
Everyone Thinks You Make Mistakes When You're Young. But I Don't Think We Make Any Fewer When We're Grown Up

Understanding the Quote: "everyone thinks you make mistakes when you're young. but i don't think..."

This quote by Jodi Picoult reflects deeply on the theme of growing up. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Growing Up, Mistake, Thinking, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Jodi Picoult interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is celebrated for insightful thoughts on growing up and mistake. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Growing Up
Mistake
Thinking
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Doing The Right Thing For Someone Else Occasionally Means Doing Something That Feels Wrong To You.
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Eye
People
Sometimes, Mothers Say And Do Things That Seem Like They Don't Want Their Kids... But When You Look More Closely, You Realize That They're Doing Those Kids A Favor. They're Just Trying To Give Them A Better Life.
Mom
Mother
Kids
Close A Door, And You'd Still Feel A Breeze Through The Window.
Doors
Window
Breeze
I Know You Love Me. The Question Is, How Much?
I Know You Love Me
Knows
Do You Know How Sometimes - When You Are Riding Your Bike And You Start Skidding Across Sand, Or When You Miss A Step And Start Tumbling Down The Stairs - You Have Those Long, Long Seconds To Know That You Are Going To Be Hurt, And Badly?
Hurt
Riding Your Bike
Tumbling Down
There Are Some Nights When You Just Want To Know There's Someone Else Besides You In This Wide World.
Night
World
Want
Life Sometimes Gets So Bogged Down In The Details, You Forget You Are Living It.
Details
Sometimes
Forget You
Just So You Know, When They Say "once Upon A Time” . . . They’re Lying
Lying
Once Upon A Time
Between The Lines
Researching 'lone Wolf,' I Was Amazed At How Thoughtful And Intelligent These Animals Are. There Has Never Been A Documented Attack Against A Human By A Wolf That Wasn't Provoked By The Human.
Animal
Thoughtful
Intelligent
You Can't Exist In This World Without Leaving A Piece Of Yourself Behind.
Leaving
Pieces
World
Once The World Was Pulled Out From Beneath Your Feet, Did You Ever Get To Stand On Firm Ground Again?
Feet
World
Firm
I Told Myself That If I Didn't Care, This Wouldn't Have Hurt So Much - Surely That Proved I Was Alive And Human And All Those Touchy-feely Things, For Once And For All. But That Wasn't A Relief, Not When I Felt Like A Skyscraper With Dynamite On Every Floor.
Hurt
Relief
Alive
But This Is Inaccurate. A Runaway Train Is An Accident. Me, I'll Jump In Front Of The Tracks. I'll Even Tie Myself Down In Front Of The Speeding Engine. There's Some Illogical Part Of Me Hat Still Believes If You Want Superman To Show Up, First There's Got To Be Someone Worth Saving.
Believe
Ties
Track
I Used To Believe Everything My Brother Told Me, Because He Was Older And I Figured He Knew More About The World. But As It Turns Out, Being A Grown-up Doesn’t Mean You’re Fearless. It Just Means You Fear Different Things.
Brother
Fear
Believe
Technically I've Improved - I Might Turn A Metaphor In Five Words Now, Where Years Ago, It Would Have Taken Me A Paragraph. I Can't Say It Was Intentional - But You Know What They Say About Practice Making Perfect...!
Taken
Years
Practice
Shelby Believed That Love Was Like A Solar Eclipse - Breathtakingly Beautiful, Absorbing, And Capable Of Rendering You Blind. She Had Not Necessarily Gone Out Of Her Way To Avoid A Relationship, But She Hadn't Wanted On Either. It Was Called Falling In Love For A Reason - Because, Inevitably, You Crashed At The Bottom.
Beautiful
Falling In Love
Gone
We Dont Have To Accept Each Others Beliefs..but We Do Have To Accept Each Others Right To Believe Them.
Believe
Belief
Accepting
My Brother Believed In All Sorts Of Mythical Creatures: Pixies, Dragons, Werewolves, Honest Men.
Brother
Men
Dragons
The World Just Feels Different For Those Of Us Who Come Alive After Dark. It's More Fragile And Unreal, A Replica Of The One Everyone Else Inhabits.
Dark
Different
Alive
You Can’t Undo Something That’s Happened; You Can’t Take Back A Word That’s Already Been Said Out Loud.
Loud
Said
Happened
These Days Her Entire Life Was About Making People Believe She Was Someone She Wasn't Anymore.
Believe
People
These Days
That's The Paradox Of Loss: How Can Something That's Gone Weigh Us Down So Much?
Loss
Gone
Paradox
Kid Says To Me, "you Play Baseball? What Position? Left Out?" And Gets A Big Laugh From The Rest Of The Class. Kid Is Only One Person Out Of 6.792 Billion Humans On This Planet. This Planet Is Only One-eighth Of The Solar System, Whose Sun Is One Of Two Billion Stars In The Milky Way Galaxy. Put It That Way, The Comment Loses It's Importance.
Baseball
Stars
Kids
Or. I Hate That Word. It’s Two Letters Long And Stuffed To The Gills With Reasonable Doubt.
Hate
Two
Long
When You Can Not Find Someone, It Is Because You've Been Misdirected To Look Elsewhere
Looks
Invisibility
Can Not
When Your Mother Is Made Out Of Your Dreams, Anything Real Is Bound To Disappoint You.
Mother
Dream
Real
Like A Missing Tooth, Sometimes An Absence Is More Noticeable Than A Presence.
Wise
Missing
Teeth
The Only Person Who Suffers, When You Squirrel Alway All That Hate, Is You.
Hate
Squirrels
Suffering
You Know How Sometimes, Your Life Is So Perfect You’re Afraid For The Next Moment, Because It Couldn’t Possibly Be Quite As Good? That’s What It Felt Like.
Perfect
Next
Sometimes
When You Look Into Your Baby’s Eyes,” Lacy Said Softly, “you See Everything You Hope They Can Be…not Everything You Wish They Won’t Become.
Baby
Eye
Wish
I Knew That Somewhere God Was Laughing. He Had Taken The Other Half Of My Heart, The One Person Who Knew Me Better Than I Knew Myself, And He Had Done What Nothing Else Could Do. By Bringing Us Together, He Had Set Into Motion The One Thing That Could Tear Us Apart.
Break Up
Breakup
Taken
If There Isn’t A Them, There Can’t Be An Us.
Ifs
Suddenly I Realize That This Is What I've Been Waiting For - A Man Who Depends Entirely On Me... I Dreamed For Years Of A Man Who Couldn't Live Without Me, A Man Who Pictured My Face When He Closed His Eyes, Who Loved Me When I Was A Mess In The Morning And When Dinner Was Late And Even When I Overloaded The Washing Machine And Burned Out The Motor. [my Son] Stares Up At Me As If I Can Do No Wrong. I Have Always Wanted Someone Who Treats Me The Way He Does; I Just Didn't Know That I'd Have To Give Birth To Him.
Morning
Eye
Son
If You Read The First Page Of One Of My Novels, I Can Guarantee That You Will Read The Last One. This Isn't Just Social Commentary. This Is Also About Writing Good Page-turners. I Want People To Keep Reading.
Reading
Writing
Guarantees That
It's Hard To Be The One Always Waiting. I Mean, There's Something To Be Said For The Hero Who Charges Off To Battle, But When You Get Right Down To It There's A Whole Story In Who's Left Behind.
Hero
Mean
Waiting
Safety Is Relative. You Can Be So Close To Shore That You Can Practically Feel It Under Your Feet, When You Suddenly Find Yourself Breaking Apart On The Rocks.
Rocks
Feet
Safety
Did You Ever Think That Maybe What You See Isn't Really What's True?
Thinking
Love Was That Way. You Could Not Render It In Black Or White. It Always Came Down To The Strange, Blended Shades Of Grey.
White
Black
Shade
Someone Real," I Hear Myself Saying. "someone Who Never Has To Pretend, And Who I Never Have To Pretend Around. Someone Who's Smart, But Knows How To Laugh At Himself. Someone Who Would Listen To A Symphony And Start To Cry, Because He Understands Music Can Be Too Big For Words. Someone Who Knows Me Better Than I Know Myself. Someone I Want To Talk To First Thing In The Morning And Last Thing At Night. Someone I Feel Like I've Known My Whole Life, Even If I Haven't.
Relationship
Morning
Real
Well I Talk A Little About That, But I Don't Admit That From The Beginning I Knew We Were Not Meant To Be Together.
Together
Were Not Meant To Be
Littles
It's Disappointing To Know That Someone Can See Right Through You.
Disappointing
Knows
Joseph Obomsawin, The Elder I Lived With There, Says That Those Who Turn To Animals Do So Because Humans Have Let Them Down.
Animal
Turns
Humans
Since I Was Five, I've Known That I Was Adopted, Which Is A Politically Correct Term For Being Clueless About One's Own Origins.
Clueless
Adoption
Term
Here's A News Flash For The Ladies: For Every One Of You Who Thinks We All Want A Girl Like Angelina Jolie, All Skinny Elbows And Angles, The Truth Is, We'd Rather Curl Up With Someone Like Charlotte - A Woman Who's Soft When A Guy Wraps His Arms Around Her; A Woman Who Might Have A Smear Of Flour On Her Shirt The Whole Day And Not Notice Or Care, Not Even When She Goes Out To Meet With The Pta; A Woman Who Doesn't Feel Like An Exotic Vacation But Is The Home We Can't Wait To Come Back To.
Girl
Women
Home
After All, The Only Way To Communicate Is To Find Someone Who Can Comprehend; The Only Way To Be Forgiven Is To Find Someone Who Is Willing To Forgive.
Forgiving
Way
Communicate
You Don't Love Someone Because They're Perfect," She Says. "you Love Them In Spite Of The Fact That They're Not." I Don't Know How To Respond To That; It's Like Being Told After Thirty-five Years That The Sky, Which I've Seen As A Brilliant Blue, Is In Fact Rather Green.
Blue
Years
Sky
Here Are The Things I Know For Sure: When You Think You're Right, You Are Most Likely Wrong. Things That Break - Be They Bones, Hearts, Or Promises - Can Be Put Back Together But Will Never Really Be Whole. And, In Spite Of What I Said, You Can Miss A Person You've Never Known. I Learn This Over And Over Again.
Heart
Thinking
Missing
If There's Something As Good As [him] In My Life, I'm Going To Pay For It.
Pay
Ifs
The Saddest Day In The World Will Be The One When She Stops Pretending.
World
Pretending
Saddest
It Takes Two People To Make A Friendship Work
Two
People
I'm Not Saying You Did The Wrong Thing. I'm Not Even Saying It Wasn't Something I'd Thought Of Doing, Myself. But Even If It Was The Just Thing To Do, Or The Fitting Thing, It Still Wasn't The Right Thing.
Fitting
Things To Do
Stills
Lawyers Were Notorious For Finding Cases In The Most Unlikely Places, Especially Ones With Huge Potential Damagers Awards.
Awards
Lawyer
Notorious
Instead Of Doing The Best Thing, We Sometimes Have To Settle For The Rightest Thing.
Sometimes
Settling
Best Things
It Is The Things You Cannot See Coming That Are Strong Enough To Kill You.
Strong
Enough
My Sisters Keeper
One Person's Trauma Is Another's Loss Of Innocence.
Loss
Innocence
Trauma
Fiction Comes In All Shapes And Sizes. Secrets,lies,stories. We All Tell Them. Sometimes,because We Hope To Entertain. Sometimes,because We Need To Distract. And Sometimes, Because We Have To.
Lying
Secret
Needs
If It Had Been Easy For Romeo To Get To Juliet, Nobody Would Have Cared. Same Goes For Cyrano And Don Quixote And Gatsby And Their Respective Paramours. What Captures The Imagination Is Watching Men Throw Themselves At A Brick Wall Over And Over Again, And Wondering If This Is The Time That They Won't Be Able To Get Back Up.
Wall
Men
Imagination
Envy, After All, Comes From Wanting Something That Isn't Yours. But Grief Comes From Losing Something You've Already Had.
Life
Grief
Envy
Power Isn't About Doing Something Terrible To Someone Who's Weaker Than You, Reiner. It's Having The Strength To Do Something Terrible, And Choosing Not To.
Terrible
It Was So Damn Hard To Find Love In This World, To Locate Someone Who Could Make You Feel That There Was A Reason You'd Been Put On This Earth. A Child, I Imagined, Was The Purest Form Of That. A Child Was The Love You Didn't Have To Look For, Didn't Have To Prove Anything To, Didn't Have To Worry About Losing. Which Is Why, When It Happened, It Hurt So Badly.
Hurt
Children
Love You
You Can't Win. Either You Have The Baby And Wear Your Pain On The Outside, Or You Don't Have The Baby, And You Keep That Ache In You Forever
Baby
Pain
Winning
Iknew That All The Attributes He Was Teased For, At Age Five, Were Going To Work In His Favor By Thetime He Was Thirty-five...but I Couldn't Get Him There Overnight. You Can't Fast-forward Your Child'slife, No Matter How Much You Want To.
Children
Age
Favors
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