--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You know, even grown-up people cannot do…" description: "\"“You know, even grown-up people cannot do what they want most\" \"Then why grow up?”\" — Elizabeth Bowen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f4/elizabeth-bowen-1197_adolescence_you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do_761618.png" --- # You know, even grown-up people cannot do what they want… ![“You know, even grown-up people cannot do what they want most" "Then why grow up?” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f4/elizabeth-bowen-1197_adolescence_you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do_761618.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f4/elizabeth-bowen-1197_adolescence_you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do_761618.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f4/elizabeth-bowen-1197_adolescence_you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do_761618.png) > ““You know, even grown-up people cannot do what they want most" "Then why grow up?”” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Adults often suppress desires, leading to internal conflict about maturity and fulfillment. **In simple terms:** Adults struggle with wants. Key Takeaway Acknowledge and pursue true desires. Themes maturity desire conflict Mood thoughtful melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - career decisions - relationship choices - personal development Key Concepts psychology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What desires have you ignored? - How does societal pressure shape your choices? A Different Perspective Maturity may require sacrifice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adolescence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescence/) [Grown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grown/) [Grown People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grown-people-755811/) [People Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-want/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Want Grow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want-grow/) ## Related quotes > [“Be a grown up people is well enough in giving a solution of a problem.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miraeniuzz-sanaf/be-a-grown-up-people-is-well-enough-in-giving-a-solution-of-a-problem/) [Miraeniuzz Sanaf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miraeniuzz-sanaf/) > [“I don't like being with grown-up people. I've known that a long time. I don't like it because I don't know how to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/i-don-t-like-being-with-grown-up-people-i-ve-known-that-a-long-time-i/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [Grown-up people can wait.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-landers/grown-up-people-can-wait/) [Ann Landers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-landers/) > [“The problem with growing up,” Quentin said, “is that once you’re grown up, people who aren’t grown up aren’t fun anymore.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-problem-with-growing-up-quentin-said-is-that-once-you-re-grown-up/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Most grown people are like icebergs, three-tenths showing, seven-tenths submerged - that is why a collision with one of them is unexpectedly hurtful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumer-godden/most-grown-people-are-like-icebergs-three-tenths-showing-seven-tenths/) [Rumer Godden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumer-godden/) > [Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork... They run their unswerving course from object to object, directed by some mysterious inner needle that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/grown-up-people-seem-to-be-busy-by-clockwork-they-run-their/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Also, perhaps children are sterner than grown-up people in their refusal to suffer, in their refusal, even, to feel at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/also-perhaps-children-are-sterner-than-grown-up-people-in-their/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [When you're a kid you want to grow up, but when you're more grown up you want to be a kid again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-re-a-kid-you-want-to-grow-up-but-when-you-re-more-grown-up/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You don't just get over it. And it doesn't make any difference if you're supposedly a grown-up. It never goes away.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-kinsella/you-don-t-just-get-over-it-and-it-doesn-t-make-any-difference-if-you/) [Sophie Kinsella](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-kinsella/) > [“Grown-ups are always more fascinated by what you might become then what you are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-lynch/grown-ups-are-always-more-fascinated-by-what-you-might-become-then/) [Jim Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-lynch/) > [We're all like children. We may think we grow up, but to me, being grown up is death, stopping thinking, trying to find out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-wesley/we-re-all-like-children-we-may-think-we-grow-up-but-to-me-being-grown/) [Mary Wesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-wesley/) > [“No point in being a grown-up if you can't be childish.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terrance-dicks/no-point-in-being-a-grown-up-if-you-can-t-be-childish/) [Terrance Dicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terrance-dicks/) > [“When you're finally a grown-up, one of the things you find is that there are no grown-ups.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-finch/when-you-re-finally-a-grown-up-one-of-the-things-you-find-is-that/) [Charles Finch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-finch/) > [As citizens we have to be more thoughtful and more educated and more informed. I turn on the TV and I see these grown…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmylou-harris/as-citizens-we-have-to-be-more-thoughtful-and-more-educated-and-more/) [Emmylou Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmylou-harris/) > [“The entrepreneurs are only about my age, probably younger, but they don't seem so. Their tailored clothes and unbending hairdos, their clipboards and laser…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-baume/the-entrepreneurs-are-only-about-my-age-probably-younger-but-they-don/) [Sara Baume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-baume/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Adolescence quotes > [They must move from a psychological state of victimization to a psychological state of accepting responsibility. The Palestinians must leave behind their revolutionary adolescence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ari-shavit/they-must-move-from-a-psychological-state-of-victimization-to-a/) [Ari Shavit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ari-shavit/) > [Having children truly ends adolescence. We are all either parents or children: responsibility-takers or those who demand from others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shapiro/having-children-truly-ends-adolescence-we-are-all-either-parents-or/) [Ben Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shapiro/) > [Teenage girls are extremists who see the world in black-and- white terms, missing shades of gray. Life is either marvelous or notworth living. School…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pipher/teenage-girls-are-extremists-who-see-the-world-in-black-and-white/) [Mary Pipher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pipher/) > [Teenagers complain there's nothing to do, then stay out all night doing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-phillips/teenagers-complain-there-s-nothing-to-do-then-stay-out-all-night/) [Bob Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-phillips/) > [The idols of one's adolescence tend to endure - you never forget how you worshipped them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ivins/the-idols-of-one-s-adolescence-tend-to-endure-you-never-forget-how/) [Molly Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ivins/) > [Being an adult is the ability to postpone a want for the sake of a family need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hogan/being-an-adult-is-the-ability-to-postpone-a-want-for-the-sake-of-a/) [Chris Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hogan/) > [The donning of the ear buds marks the beginning of teen life, when children set off on their own for the passage through adolescence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amity-shlaes/the-donning-of-the-ear-buds-marks-the-beginning-of-teen-life-when/) [Amity Shlaes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amity-shlaes/) > [Adolescence is when the very worst and best impulses in the human soul struggle against each other for possession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-stanley-hall/adolescence-is-when-the-very-worst-and-best-impulses-in-the-human/) [G. Stanley Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-stanley-hall/) > [Most adults would not dream of belittling, humiliating, or bullying (verbally or physically) another adult. But many of the same adults think nothing of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-steinberg/most-adults-would-not-dream-of-belittling-humiliating-or-bullying/) [Laurence Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-steinberg/) > [If you can't count, they can cheat you. If you can't read, they can beat you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/if-you-can-t-count-they-can-cheat-you-if-you-can-t-read-they-can-beat/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“He'd possessed all the key elements of a school shooter: hormones, misery, ammunition. People wondered how something like Columbine could happen. Jude wondered why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-hill/he-d-possessed-all-the-key-elements-of-a-school-shooter-hormones/) [Joe Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-hill/) > [ I remember realizing, when I did Little Women \[1994\], that that was the only time girls that age were being written about. It was… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winona-ryder/i-remember-realizing-when-i-did-little-women-1994-that-that-was-the/) [Winona Ryder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winona-ryder/) > [Content without style is propaganda or adolescence. Style without content is decadence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/content-without-style-is-propaganda-or-adolescence-style-without/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [Adolescence is interesting. I mean, all of life is interesting and all of life is transitionary. 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Twenge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-m-twenge/) [Browse all 787 Adolescence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“You know, even grown-up people cannot do what they want most\" \"Then why grow up?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Bowen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do-what-they-want-most-then-why/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Adolescence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do-what-they-want-most-then-why/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f4/elizabeth-bowen-1197_adolescence_you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do_761618.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f4/elizabeth-bowen-1197_adolescence_you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do_761618.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f4/elizabeth-bowen-1197_adolescence_you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do_761618.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You know, even grown-up people cannot do what they want most\" \"Then why grow up?” — Elizabeth Bowen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elizabeth Bowen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“You know, even grown-up people cannot...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do-what-they-want-most-then-why/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do-what-they-want-most-then-why/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```