Dexter Holland Quotes

I've experienced a lot for someone my age that a lot of people will be able to relate to.

My advice would be not to write until after 35. You need some experience, and for life to knock you about a bit. Growing up is so hard you probably won't have much emotion to spare anyway.

Oh my gosh, I'd give so much advice to a younger version of myself. I would say it really does get better as you get older. The things that mean so much, the things that seem like, you know, it's going to cause the end of the world, are all things that I've already forgotten.

People say you become more cynical as you get older. That hasn't been my experience.

I had to have experience, you know what I mean? Because I've been doing this since I was 14... I couldn't write about anything at 14. I had to live some life. I definitely lived some life.

I've calmed down, certainly, from the days of being 18, but I'm still having a good time.

Things don't have to come to you in your youth. It's fine for them to come to you when you get older. That's a motto in my household.

I don't know if it's that the scripts are evolving or just that I'm getting older, but the characters become more interesting as you get older because you've lived more life at different stages. You've loved; you've lost; you have more of that journey.

I suspect I was not the first 21-year-old who thought he knew more than he did. And one of the virtues of age, one of the virtues of getting married and becoming a father, is it often leads one to take a more measured approach to life.

Think back to yourself at age 18. I know I was mighty different than the Patti I am today. As we grow up, we grow out of our haircuts, our apartments and - often times - our romantic decisions.

Maybe something that's acceptable in your teens or 20s is unacceptable in your 30s or 40s.

Maybe in my 20s I was a little more lively. But I'm done with that.

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

I didn't lead a very wise life, myself, but it was a full one and a grown-up one. You come of age very quickly through shipwreck and disaster.

Everything that happens later in life is appreciated in a different way. You can appreciate the thing for what it is, which you couldn't if you were 25 and had never experienced much else. You would take it all for granted and think that's what life is like.

It's so much more interesting having life under your belt.

I put all my big revelations into songs when I was in my 20s; as you get older, revelations are harder to come by.

Every teenager, I think, thinks it's the end of the world whenever anything happens, and it's not. You'll get through it. Life will be much more interesting and will certainly be broader when you're older.

I'm aware, as I get older, there are less and less stories that really pertain to me and who I am and where I'm going.

When you're young it's football, football, football. Then you get a family, kids come into things and you find you have a broader view of life. You get your inspiration from many different places.

The fact is that this conversation is going on at every level at every age, we're all going, "God, what a jerk I've been," "How could I have married that guy?" or "How could I have done this or that?" With time, this is the gift of being older, that you get to look back and say, "It wasn't all about them."

I've gotten away with a lot in my life. The older you get the more you realize you're not getting away with it, it's taking its toll somewhere. So you try not to put yourself in those situations. Part of the mysterious process called growing up. Some people do that better than others.

As you grow older, you learn to understand life a little better.

It's sort of interesting how, when you get older, things that were once so important sort of fall away.

I know you think that when you're 35, 45, 55, you'll be different. But I'm going to let you in on a bit of a secret. You're going to look different, and your life is going to be different, but in your head you'll always be that 16-year-old girl.