90 Unhappy Childhood Quotes

Following is our list of unhappy childhood quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about unhappy life.

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Famous Unhappy Childhood Quotes

Unhappy parents teach you a lesson that lasts a lifetime. — J. G. Ballard

I'm one of those unlucky people who had a happy childhood. — Jonathan Coe

Happy children should not try to be artists. You have to be born with a broken heart and a sense of loneliness inside. I never had a happy moment as a child myself. — Stella Adler

Unhappiness in a child accumulates because he sees no end to the dark tunnel. The thirteen weeks of a term might just as well be thirteen years. — Graham Greene

School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. — H. L. Mencken

Lack of love from parents often motivates their children to go searching for love in other relationships. This search is often misguided and leads to further disappointment. — Gary Chapman

Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul. — Dave Pelzer

CHILDHOOD IS THAT STATE WHICH ENDS THE MOMENT A PUDDLE IS FIRST VIEWED AS AN OBSTACLE INSTEAD OF AN OPPORTUNITY — Michael K. Williams

I grew up like a neglected weed, ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. Then I was not happy or contented: every time I saw a white man I was afraid of being carried away. — Harriet Tubman

One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood. — Agatha Christie

That toil of growing up; The ignominy of boyhood; the distress Of boyhood changing into man; The unfinished man and his pain. — William Butler Yeats

The wounded child inside many females is a girl who was taught from early childhood on that she must become something other than herself, deny her true feelings, in order to attract and please others. — Bell Hooks

It's never too late to have a happy childhood. — Wayne Dyer

Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime. — Herbert Ward

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. — Mother Teresa

Difficult Childhood Quotes

From my childhood, obedience was something I could not get out of my system. When I entered the armed service at the age of twenty-seven, I found being obedient not a bit more difficult than it had been during my life to that point. It was unthinkable that I would not follow orders. — Adolf Eichmann

It is very difficult for people to believe the simple fact that every persecutor was once a victim. Yet it should be very obvious that someone who was allowed to feel free and strong from childhood does not have the need to humiliate another person. — Alice Miller

The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people! — Randy Pausch

Unhappy childhood quote The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.

Past certain ages or certain wisdoms it is very difficult to look with wonder; it is best done when one is a child; after that, and if you are lucky, you will find a bridge of childhood and walk across it. — Truman Capote

I'm very comfortable with the nature of life and death, and that we come to an end. What's most difficult to imagine is that those dreams and early yearnings and desires of childhood and adolescence will also disappear. But who knows? Maybe you become part of the eternal whatever. — Hugh Hefner

I had been riding horses before my memory kicked in, so my life with horses had no beginning. It simply appeared from the fog of infancy. I survived a difficult childhood by traveling on the backs of horses, and in adulthood the pattern didn't change. — Monty Roberts

Unhappy childhood quote All human unhappiness comes from not facing reality squarely, exactly as it is.
All human unhappiness comes from not facing reality squarely, exactly as it is.

[A difficult childhood gave me] a kind of cocky confidence. ... I could never have so little that I hadn't had less. It took away my fear. — Jacqueline Cochran

I prayed to rediscover my childhood, and it has come back, and I feel that it is just as difficult as it used to be, and that growing older has served no purpose at all. — Rainer Maria Rilke

A lot of my childhood memories involve walking home in floods of tears. At that age, feeling unpopular is difficult to handle. — Rachel Stevens

I had spent my childhood and the better part of my early adulthood trying to understand my mother. She had been an extraordinarily difficult person, spiteful and full of rage, with a temper that could flare, seemingly out of nowhere, scorching everything and everyone who got in its way. [pp. 40-41] — Dani Shapiro

Unhappy Life Quotes

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life. — Abraham Maslow

I Don't Think There's A Good Excuse For Being Unhappy. I'm Not Particularly Unhappy, But I Know What Pain Is. I think That Life Is Characterized By Pain, Partly. Part Of The Way You Can Tell You're Alive Is By How Much Pain You're Experiencing, Or How Little. — Jerry Garcia

Life laughs at you when you are unhappy; Life smiles at you when you are happy; But life salutes you when you make other happy. — Charlie Chaplin

Unhappy childhood quote Some people think I'm unhappy, but I'm not. I just appreciate silence in a world that never stops ta
Some people think I'm unhappy, but I'm not. I just appreciate silence in a world that never stops talking.

There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them. — Anthony De Mello

Happiness is the result of inner maturity. It depends on us alone, and requires patient work, carried out from day to day. Happiness must be built, and this requires time and effort. In the long term, happiness and unhappiness are therefore a way of being, or a life skill. — Matthieu Ricard

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Unhappy childhood quote But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and he who cannot love is the most unhappy of all.
But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and he who cannot love is the most unhappy of all.

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you arecruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back. — Cary Grant

Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations. — Red Skelton

In 1968, I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry, and unhappy like we do. — Cesar Chavez

You don’t want to be the guy who succeeds in life while being high-strung, high-stress, and unhappy while leaving a trail of emotional wreckage for you and your loved ones. — Naval Ravikant

Childhood Trauma Quotes

Why do we feel jealousy? Therapists often regard the demon as a scar of childhood trauma or a symptom of a psychological problem. And it's true that people who feel inadequate, insecure, or overly dependent tend to be more jealous than others. — Helen Fisher

My childhood was safe and sane. No abuse and no traumas. I was surrounded by a large and loving family who taught me the importance of hard work and a meaningful education. — Ronnie James Dio

Most of us have unhealthy thoughts and emotions that have either developed as a result of trauma or hardships in their childhood, or the way they were raised. — Steven Seagal

Unhappy childhood quote Stress and unhappiness come not from situations, but how you respond to situations.
Stress and unhappiness come not from situations, but how you respond to situations.

But really, what else are you going to talk about in line at the liquor store? Childhood trauma seems like the natural choice, since it’s the reason why most of us are in line there to begin with. — Jenny Lawson

My mother really wanted me to be in possibly a beauty pageant, not only for if I could win, but it helped improve my self-image because of trauma in my childhood and other issues. — Pam Grier

In your twenties, if you have any amount of complexity in your childhood, or any trauma that you haven't dealt with, it comes out. That's why you have a lot of artists that don't make it through. — Jeremy Sisto

Unhappy childhood quote Happy people build their inner world. Unhappy people blame their outer world.
Happy people build their inner world. Unhappy people blame their outer world.

These days, there are a great many books about childhood trauma and its effects, but at the time all the experts agreed that one should forget about it as quickly as possible and pick up where you left off. — Peter Straub

I don't carry any early childhood trauma around with me, if that's what you're hinting at. The story of the bicycles - and there were three of them which were stolen from me - I've dealt with it well. — Angela Merkel

Childhood trauma is not necessarily a prophecy of doom, because some children are resilient or because later experiences help to restore mental health. — Richard Bentall

I think the thumb print on the throat of many people is childhood trauma that goes unprocessed and unrecognized. — Tom Hooper

Happy Childhood Quotes

If you go back to childhood, you observe that if a child’s basic needs are met their default state is happy – they don’t need an iPhone, they can play with their toes and be happy. — Mo Gawdat

What I have got from my childhood aren't toys, but memories. And happy memories are better than any toy. — River Phoenix

For almost thirty years I repeatedly saw one and the same dream: I would arrive in Vienna at long last. I would feel really happy, for I was returning to my serene childhood. — Alfred Schnittke

Unhappy childhood quote Think that's what attracted me to painting so much. I could create any kind of world that I wanted.
Think that's what attracted me to painting so much. I could create any kind of world that I wanted. Nothing hurts here, no pain, nobody's unhappy, it's a pleasant place. Everything's nice here.

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home! — Charles Dickens

I am happy, and I am living the life I always dreamed of. — Kylian Mbappe

Don't we all look back in longing, those of us who had happy childhoods? Because the greatest loss we ever know is not the loss of family or place or money, it is the loss of innocence. There is forever a hollow place in our hearts once we realize that darkness rings the campfire. — Carolyn Hart

Unhappy childhood quote I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.
I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

Don't seek God in temples. He is close to you. He is within you. Only you should surrender to Him and you will rise above happiness and unhappiness. — Leo Tolstoy

Over time we are able to undermine habitual modes of thinking formed by our self-made self in early childhood, which tries to squeeze happiness from the gratification of our desires for the symbols in our culture of survival and security, power and control, and affection and esteem. — Thomas Keating

It's never too late to have a happy childhood, and age only matters if you're a cheese. — Rick Steves

If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older. — Tom Stoppard

Unpleasant Life Quotes

What is life but an unpleasant interruption to a peaceful nonexistence. - Jean-Paul Sartre

What is life but an unpleasant interruption to a peaceful nonexistence. — Jean-Paul Sartre

To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them. — Pierre-Auguste Renoir

We must stop regarding unpleasant or unexpected things as interruptions of real life. The truth is that interruptions are real life. — C. S. Lewis

Unhappy childhood quote All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life -- the life God is sending one day by day. — C. S. Lewis

I believe that the mindset that allows you to spend your working life thanking and congratulating people rather than being unpleasant to them is the mainstay of good leadership. — Tim Waterstone

There are always surprises. Life may be inveterately grim and the surprises disproportionately unpleasant, but it would be hardly worth living if there were no exceptions, no sunny days, no acts of random kindness. — T.C. Boyle

Unhappy childhood quote There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness.
There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness.

It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. — Nelson Mandela

There came a time in everyone’s life when they realized that in spite of how hard they’d been running from themselves, everywhere they went, there they were: Addictions and compulsions were nothing but marching bands of distraction, masking truths that were unpleasant, but ultimately undeniable. — J.R. Ward

Why is it that fools always have the instinct to hunt out the unpleasant secrets of life, and the hardiness to mention them? — Sayings

Happiness is something that comes from creating good karma. The monk who feels that what they are doing is unpleasant is not really creating any good karma and will not have a better lifetime. — Frederick Lenz

People Writing About Unhappy Childhood

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by J. G. Ballard

J. G. Ballard
quotes on leadership, slavery and religion

130 742
Read quotes by Jonathan Coe

Jonathan Coe
quotes on education, life and culture

37 103
Read quotes by Stella Adler

Stella Adler
quotes on acting

54 658
Read quotes by Graham Greene

Graham Greene
quotes on writing, love

274 1467
Read quotes by H. L. Mencken

H. L. Mencken
quotes on government, elections and death

913 7279
Read quotes by Gary Chapman

Gary Chapman
quotes on marriage

105 1069

More Unhappy Childhood Quotes

I don't think I was awake for much of my childhood. I did a lot of napping. This might have been a defensive measure against encroaching depression. Until about the age of eleven or twelve, I had zero interests other than trying to steal gumballs from supermarket gumball machines. — Michael Ian Black

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we have stopped saying 'It got lost,' and say, 'I lost it.' — Sydney J. Harris

They say that to be a writer you must first have an unhappy childhood. I don't know if unhappiness is necessary, but I think maybe some children who have suffered a loss too great for words grow up into writers who are always trying to find those words, trying to find a meaning for the way they have lived — Cynthia Rylant

(An unhappy childhood was not) an unsuitable preparation for my future, in that it demanded a constant wariness, the habit of observation, and the attendance on moods and tempers; the noting of discrepancies between speech and action; a certain reserve of demeanour; and automatic suspicion of sudden favours. — Rudyard Kipling

I am convinced that, except in a few extraordinary cases, one form or another of an unhappy childhood is essential to the formation of exceptional gifts. — Thornton Wilder

I didn't have a catharsis for my childhood pain, most of us don't, and until I learned how to forgive those people and let it go, I was unhappy. — Tyler Perry

Yes, my dolls were the beginning. Obviously there was a convulsive flavor to them because they reflected my anxiety and unhappiness. To an extent they represented an attempt to reject the horrors of adult life as it was in favor of a return to the wonder of childhood, but the eroticism was all-important, they became an erotic liberation for me. — Hans Bellmer

Communists are people who fancied that they had an unhappy childhood. — Gertrude Stein

People who've had very unhappy childhoods are pretty good at inventing themselves. If nobody invents you for yourself, nothing is left but to invent yourself for others. — John Le Carre

That is why we dread children, even if we love them. They show us the state of our decay. — Brian Aldiss

People who've had happy childhoods are wonderful, but they're bland... An unhappy childhood compels you to use your imagination to create a world in which you can be happy. Use your old grief. That's the gift you're given. — Sue Grafton

Mice: What is the best early training for a writer? Y.C.: An unhappy childhood. — Ernest Hemingway

My father was a very unhappy person, very sarcastic, and my mother was very nervous and worried about what people thought. They weren't monsters, but it wasn't a good childhood. — Paula Danziger

I think you never forget your childhood, whether it was happy or unhappy. — Marcel Carne

My life is fair game for anybody. I spent an unhappy, penniless childhood in Brooklyn. I had to slug my way up in a town called Hollywood where people love to trample you to death. I don't relax because I don't know how. I don't want to know how. Life is too short to relax. — Susan Hayward

Childhood knows unhappiness through men. In solitude, it can relax its aches. When the human world leaves him in peace, the child feels like the son of the cosmos. — Gaston Bachelard

What masquerades as sex education is not education at all. It is selective propaganda which artificially encourages children to participate in adult sex, while it censors out the facts of life about the unhappy consequences. It is robbing children of their childhood. — Phyllis Schlafly

You're meant to have an unhappy childhood to be a writer, but there's a lot to be said for a very happy one that just let's you get on with it. — Emma Donoghue

The Babar the Elephant book is sitting in front of me. I pick it up and start reading it. I remember reading it as a small Boy and enjoying it and imagining that I was friends with Babar, his constant Companion during all of his adventures. He went to the moon, I went with him. He fought Tomb Raiders in Egypt, I fought alongside him. He rescued his elephant girlfriend from Ivory Hunters on the Savanna, I coordinated the getaway. I loved that goddamn Elephant and I loved being his friend. In a childhood full of unhappiness and rage, Babar is one of the few pleasant memories that I have. Me and Babar, kicking some motherfucking ass. — James Frey

Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness. — H. P. Lovecraft

I was such a sullen, angry, sad kid. I'm sure there are writers who have had happy childhoods, but what are you going to write about? No ghosts, no fear. I'm very happy that I had an unhappy and uncomfortable childhood. — Isabel Allende

To be a social success, do not act pathetic, arrogant, or bored. Do not discuss your unhappy childhood, your visit to the dentist,the shortcomings of your cleaning woman, the state of your bowels, or your spouse's bad habits. You will be thought a paragon (or perhaps a monster) of good behavior. — Mason Cooley

I think it's not inaccurate to say that I had a perfectly happy childhood during which I was very unhappy. — Joss Whedon

We all have two childhoods, the unhappy one and the happy one. — William Matthews

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