50 Immature Quotes to Help You Grow

These immature quotes from authors, poets, and other famous people do an excellent job of explaining what immaturity is and what it looks like in the real world.

The dictionary defines being immature as ‘not being fully grown or displaying behavior that is appropriate to someone younger.’

Some of these immaturity quotes are about life and love or relationships and about how immaturity makes life and relationships harder.

Some of the behaviors of an immature person include things like having little impulse control, lacking empathy, and refusing to apologize.

Immature people also have poor listening skills.

You need all of these skills to have healthy relationships with the people around you. 

Consequently, being immature can make life feel out of balance.

Generally, people who are immature have trouble distinguishing between big problems and little ones.

Indeed, to the immature, everything is all or nothing—a catastrophe or the best thing ever.

Another sign of immaturity is not having clear goals or having the discipline to reach them.

It is hard to know what you want out of life and how to get there, when you haven’t quite figured out who you are yet.

Keep reading through these immaturity quotes to better understand this psychological state and how it affects your life!

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration.

Our inspirational quote category page has even more inspirational and educational quotes.

Short immature quotes

Here are some short, quick hitting immature quotes. Sometimes less words are more…

1. “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” — T. S. Eliot

2. “Maturity is knowing when to be immature.” — Randall Hall

3. “Complaints about reality are immature.” — Timothy Findley

You will also enjoy our article on cactus quotes.

4. “To the immature, other people are not real.” — Harry Overstreet

5. “For many, immaturity is an ideal, not a defect.” — Mason Cooley

6. “Ego is an immature stage of development for humans.” — Eckhart Tolle

7. “Immature is a word boring people use to describe fun people.” — Unknown

8. “There were times my immaturity kept me from being all I wanted to be.” — Len Elmore

9. “A little foolishness, enough to enjoy life, and a little wisdom to avoid the errors, that will do.” — Osho

10. “Bigotry and demonisation of difference are usually the hallmark of immature and childish minds.” — Mehdi Hasan

Immature quotes about adults and children

Immaturity does not limit itself to a certain age. Take a look at the quotes below to see some immaturity quotes about kids and adults.

11. “I am too childlike to be immature.” — Lee Siegel

12. “You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever.” — Germaine Greer

13. “Maturity doesn’t mean age; it means sensitivity, manners, and how you react.” — Unknown

14. “Viewing the child solely as an immature person is a way of escaping comforting him.” — Clark Moustakas

15. “Argument does not teach children or the immature. Only time and experience does that.” — Doris Lessing

16. “All grown-ups were once children… But only few of them remember it.” — Antoine De Saint-Exupery

17. “To be honest, I don’t think I’m the best role model in the world. I’m pretty immature sometimes.” — Louis Tomlinson

18. “I was very immature when I was young, and for me there was no balance. Everything was just all or nothing.” — Mickey Rourke

19. “I still feel like an immature idiot inside, but I look in the mirror and – as a friend of mine once said- this old guy keeps getting in the way.” — Ray Romano

20. “To all my young fans out there, I ask that you no longer consider me a role model. See me as an individual who had the opportunity to be a role model but blew it.” — Tommy Morrison

Immature quotes about love and relationships

Immaturity does not often pare well with long term relationships. Take a look at the quotes below to learn some ways to improve your future relationships.

21. “Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says ‘I need you because I love you.’” — Erich Fromm

22. “Lots of women love to accuse men of being immature when the fellow in question displays a reluctance to ‘commit.’” — Julie Burchill

23. “If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature.” — Buddha

24. “Horrible dates are when you’re with people who are immature and can’t really be comfortable in their own skin.” — James Mercer

25. “Immature people always try to win an argument, even at the cost of a relationship. Mature people prefer relationship over argument.” — Unknown

26. “Immature is the love of the youth, and immature his hatred of man and earth. His mind and the wings of his spirit are still tied down and heavy.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

27. “Men and women are most alike at their most mature and soulful levels. Men and women are most different only at their most immature and merely physical levels.” — Richard Rohr

28. “The consuming desire of most human beings is deliberately to plant their whole life in the hands of some other person. I would describe this method of searching for happiness as immature.” — Quentin Crisp

29. “In the past I would self-destruct when it came to love – I was immature, throwing myself into things but now times have changed, I want a relationship where you understand the other person.” — Elisabetta Canalis

30. “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own… Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy.” — Robert A. Heinlein

Immature quotes that explain the difference between people

Have you ever wondered why two people can be in the same situation and act completely differently? Oftentimes the difference is the maturity level in the individuals.

31. “Making bad decisions is a part of life. Blaming others for your bad decisions is immature. “ — Unknown

32. “Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.” — Unknown

33. “Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another.” — Immanuel Kant

34. “Maturity is not when we start speaking big things. It is when we start understanding small things.” — Unknown

35. “With an easy life you can never grow mature; with a tough life you can never remain immature!” — Mehmet Murat ildan

36. “You can call it what you want: bad attitude, immature. You can say, ‘He’s a thug.’ But I’m a competitor.” — DeMarcus Cousins

37. “The mature person meets the demands of life, while the immature person demands that life meet her demands.” — Henry Cloud

38. “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” — Wilhelm Stekel

39. “Everyone knows that life isn’t fair. Saying it’s not fair suggests that you think life is supposed to be fair, which makes you look immature and naive.” — Travis Bradberry

40. “People who have no hold over their process of thinking are likely to be ruined by liberty of thought. If thought is immature, liberty of thought becomes a method of converting men into animals.” — Muhammad Iqbal

More immature quotes about growth and life

Here are some more immature quotes for you to enjoy. Have you ever acted in a manner described by these quotes?

41. “Premature panic is the sign of an immature mind!” — Destro

42. “The first sign of maturity is not reacting to others’ immaturity.” — D. Muthukrishnan

43. “There is no bad time to laugh. I always joke, even five minutes before a game. It’s not bad to stay a little immature.” — Kylian Mbappe

44. “In short, immaturity is spoiled. And what is spoiled doesn’t ripen. It goes bad early, gets bitter and withers on the vine.” — Gina Barreca

45. “Rare is the human being, immature or mature, who has never felt an impulse to pretend he is someone or something else.” — George Pierce Baker

46. “Man’s growth is held back by his surrender to other people’s expectation that he remain the person he was when they met him.” — Mokokoma Mokhonoana

47. “Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order to enjoy life, we should not enjoy it too much.” — Vladimir Nabokov

48. “Immaturity exists in every human; however, it becomes the prisoner of the maturity force, whether it is real or pretended; it naturally escapes on many occasions.” — Ehsan Sehgal

49. “Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.” — Tom Robbins

50. “I’m controlling my energy, eating right, meditating, in the gym, doing all this stuff I’m supposed to be doing. I’m past that young, immature way of thinking.” — Shameik Moore

Understanding immaturity better

One of life’s greatest lessons is to not sweat the small stuff.

When people are immature, all the small things (which is almost everything) can seem like really big things.

As we grow, we become better at being more attuned to our needs, strengths, and weaknesses. 

Immaturity is not something you can just stop being—a lot of immaturity is due to physical and mental growth that comes from age and experience.

You can not rush those things or skip them.

Unfortunately, many of the things that make us more mature also bring us pain or at least make us uncomfortable. 

These life events cause us to reach new levels of self-awareness.

Increasing our self-awareness means we are  less anxious, more confident, and more prepared to take on the world every day.

It also helps us face less conflict in our lives. 

Now, while you cannot rush maturity, there are a few things you can do to improve your level of maturity.

Specifically, you can set goals and be honest with yourself about your responsibility to those goals.

In short, be accountable and have clear expectations. 

Another thing you can do is to focus on the positive and try to avoid unnecessary drama.

So if you want to grow, practice gratitude, listening skills, and empathy and you will be amazed at how much you grow! 

What does immaturity mean to you?

What was your favorite immaturity quote?

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