--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Curious thing that the younger men of…" description: "\"“Curious thing that the younger men of today were glib enough when they talked of ideals and how everyone must progress in a changing world, but when t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e4/daphne-du-maurier-1185_generation_curious-thing-that-the-younger-men-of-to_356379.png" --- # Curious thing that the younger men of today were glib… ![“Curious thing that the younger men of today were glib enough when they talked of ideals and how everyone must progress in a changing world, but when the crunch came they were very ready to let the older generation pay the piper.” quote by Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e4/daphne-du-maurier-1185_generation_curious-thing-that-the-younger-men-of-to_356379.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e4/daphne-du-maurier-1185_generation_curious-thing-that-the-younger-men-of-to_356379.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e4/daphne-du-maurier-1185_generation_curious-thing-that-the-younger-men-of-to_356379.png) > ““Curious thing that the younger men of today were glib enough when they talked of ideals and how everyone must progress in a changing world, but when the crunch came they were very ready to let the older generation pay the piper.”” [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Younger generations often champion idealism but shift responsibility to older ones when challenges arise. **In simple terms:** Young people claim ideals yet avoid hardship. Key Takeaway Recognize and address generational accountability. Themes generational conflict idealism responsibility social change Mood reflective critical thoughtful Type philosophical social commentary When to use this quote - political activism - workplace mentorship - family decision‑making - community projects Key Concepts social psychology intergenerational dynamics moral responsibility Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance idealism with practical responsibility? - What steps can bridge generational gaps? A Different Perspective Idealism can be superficial without concrete commitment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Changing World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/changing-world/) [Generation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generation/) [Older generation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/older-generation/) ## Related quotes > [It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. 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Men with contriving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yamamoto-tsunetomo/it-is-a-wretched-thing-that-the-young-men-of-today-are-so-contriving/) [Yamamoto Tsunetomo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yamamoto-tsunetomo/) > [I can't wait to have a son so I can teach him how to be a man and how to treat a woman. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-can-t-wait-to-have-a-son-so-i-can-teach-him-how-to-be-a-man-and-how/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Most men today cannot conceive of a freedom that does not involve somebody's slavery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/most-men-today-cannot-conceive-of-a-freedom-that-does-not-involve/) [W. E. B. 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It was the incubator that hatched all our big men, and that's why we haven't got as many big…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/the-small-town-is-passing-it-was-the-incubator-that-hatched-all-our/) [Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/) > [Parties are continually changing. The men of today give place to the men of tomorrow, and the idols which one set worship, the next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-tyler/parties-are-continually-changing-the-men-of-today-give-place-to-the/) [John Tyler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-tyler/) > [So tired of sex-obsessed men. Fed up of being asked my bra size before they've asked me my name. What is wrong with men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/so-tired-of-sex-obsessed-men-fed-up-of-being-asked-my-bra-size-before/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Men, today we die a little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emil-zatopek/men-today-we-die-a-little/) [Emil Zatopek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emil-zatopek/) > [Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharlene05/do-not-rebuke-an-older-man-harshly-but-exhort-him-as-if-he-were-your/) Sharlene05 ## More by Daphne du Maurier > [He lacked tenderness; he was rude; and he had more than a streak of cruelty in him; he was a thief and a liar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/he-lacked-tenderness-he-was-rude-and-he-had-more-than-a-streak-of/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“You understand now... how simple life becomes when things like mirrors are forgotten.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/you-understand-now-how-simple-life-becomes-when-things-like-mirrors/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [I could fight with the living but I could not fight the dead. If there was some woman in London that Maxim loved, someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/i-could-fight-with-the-living-but-i-could-not-fight-the-dead-if-there/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [It wouldn't make for sanity would it, living with the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/it-wouldn-t-make-for-sanity-would-it-living-with-the-devil/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“The only time I got into trouble was when I forged M's signature on the weekly report we had to take home every Friday…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/the-only-time-i-got-into-trouble-was-when-i-forged-m-s-signature-on/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“They are not brave, the days when we are twenty-one. They are full of little cowardices, little fears without foundation, and one is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/they-are-not-brave-the-days-when-we-are-twenty-one-they-are-full-of/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [Women want love to be a novel, men a short story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/women-want-love-to-be-a-novel-men-a-short-story/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“We all of us have our particular devil who ruses us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/we-all-of-us-have-our-particular-devil-who-ruses-us-and-torments-us/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“Happy in his silence yet eager for his words.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/happy-in-his-silence-yet-eager-for-his-words/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“There have been men in arid deserts where the sun has so disfigured them that they have become things of horror – parched and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/there-have-been-men-in-arid-deserts-where-the-sun-has-so-disfigured/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“Packing up. The nagging worry of departure. When shutting drawers and flinging wide an hotel wardrobe, or the impersonal shelves of a furnished villa,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/packing-up-the-nagging-worry-of-departure-when-shutting-drawers-and/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“And perhaps one day, in after years, someone would wander there and listen to the silence, as she had done, and catch the whisper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/and-perhaps-one-day-in-after-years-someone-would-wander-there-and/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“You thought I was mad. Perhaps I was. Perhaps I am. It doesn't make for sanity, does it, living with the devil.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/you-thought-i-was-mad-perhaps-i-was-perhaps-i-am-it-doesn-t-make-for/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“many impressions to seize and hold, familiar loved façades, balconies, windows, water lapping the cellar steps of decaying palaces, the little red house where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/many-impressions-to-seize-and-hold-familiar-loved-fa-ades-balconies/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [People who travel are always fugitives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/people-who-travel-are-always-fugitives/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) [Explore all 269 Daphne du Maurier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) ## More Generation quotes > [If every nation gets the government it deserves, every generation writes the history which corresponds with its view of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/if-every-nation-gets-the-government-it-deserves-every-generation/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [“More than anything, Boomer influence is a story of sheer numbers. As of the early 1980s, when the Boomer revolution really kicked off, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-cannon-gibney/more-than-anything-boomer-influence-is-a-story-of-sheer-numbers-as-of/) [Bruce Cannon Gibney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-cannon-gibney/) > [We live in such a special time when literally anything we can think of is possible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-willey/we-live-in-such-a-special-time-when-literally-anything-we-can-think/) [Daniel Willey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-willey/) > [We are living in a WTF generation (W)ikipedia (T)witter (F)acebook!..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-are-living-in-a-wtf-generation-w-ikipedia-t-witter-f-acebook/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Progress is the injustice each generation commits with regard to its predecessors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/progress-is-the-injustice-each-generation-commits-with-regard-to-its/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [We are the WTF generation: Wikipedia, Twitter and Facebook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-are-the-wtf-generation-wikipedia-twitter-and-facebook/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm not of this generation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-manson/i-m-not-of-this-generation/) [Charles Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-manson/) > [Phil is of a generation that probably would have been happier never getting married. He just doesn't want to get married again; it's not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanie-buss/phil-is-of-a-generation-that-probably-would-have-been-happier-never/) [Jeanie Buss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanie-buss/) > [In the long period of time when I did talk shows and game shows, a whole new generation of people came along who thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-bean/in-the-long-period-of-time-when-i-did-talk-shows-and-game-shows-a/) [Orson Bean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-bean/) > [If we turn our backs on the remaining industries and not reinvest in these places and just say 'You're on your own,' we will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fetterman/if-we-turn-our-backs-on-the-remaining-industries-and-not-reinvest-in/) [John Fetterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fetterman/) > [I liked the generation of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, who I admired. 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