I think your 20s are the hardest part of life. I mean, everyone goes on about how hard it is to be a teenager, but actually I think it’s tougher to be in your 20s because you’re expected to be a grownup and expected to earn your own living and be successful and I think you feel like a kid still. Nigel Cole

Every woman in her late 20s goes through a period where she just doesn’t believe love is out there anymore, but it is. And I think the minute you stop looking for it is when it comes for you. Kristen Bell

There’s an ‘Everything must go!’ emotional liquidation feel to the end of your twenties, isn’t there? What will happen if we turn thirty and we’re not ‘ready?’ You don’t feel entirely settled in any aspect of your life, even if you are on paper. Sloane Crosley

22 is basically the only age you can use as leverage. Meaning that because it’s the exact age between life-as-you-know-it and what will later be known as ‘real life’ (that’s scientifically proven, of course), people expect you to make some mistakes. Mistakes like overcooking a pot-roast or dating someone who may not be right for you. And that’s okay, because heck, you’re just 22. Shanelle Kaul

I’m never so sure as I was in my mid-20s. Meryl Streep

20-somethings have the tendency to imagine that their 20s are the last chance they’re going to have to experiment, explore, and party. This is a false premise. Restaurants and cafes continue to let people over 29 through their doors. They even serve them alcohol. Holden Desalles

Start your twenties with a lot of friends and leave with a few good ones. What happened? People faded away into their careers and relationships. Fights were had and never resolved. Shit happens. Ryan O’Connell

When I was in my twenties, it felt like I was riding wild horses, and I was hoping I didn’t go over a cliff. Chaka Khan

26 shows up in the middle of coffee one morning and hands you a freshly printed memo that reads: “You’re going to get old one day and die. You’re cool for now, but it will happen. You’re officially on notice. You won’t be young forever.” And then 26 struts out of your office, like an unconcerned dick, having nonchalantly just changed your entire perspective. Jessica Blankenship

I like getting older. When you’re in your twenties you’re really forging for your future. Things take shape later on. Crispin Glover

The path to whatever your notion of success is will likely not be linear. Don’t take continuous personal growth for granted. Just because you’re older doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wiser. Your 20s will be full of failures — let them happen and learn as you go. Holden Desalles

When you’re single and in your 20s, you throw on a pair of jeans and look fabulous. Sheena Easton

When you’re in your early 20s your love life seems to explode every 20 minutes or so. By the time you’ve reached your thirties, it is every five or ten years. Patrick Marber

The thing I love most about my generation — and something that rarely gets recognized — is that we’re fucking hustlers. We make it work. We get that money. We’re innovative and resourceful. The odds may be stacked against us and yet we still find a way to triumph. Ryan O’Connell

[S]pend your twenties learning how to mentally block out trend pieces about the importance of reaching specific life milestones in a timely fashion. Gabrielle Moss

Your 20s are not by default the only time in your life that you can pick up and go, or that you can try out different careers. The space where comfort and risk come together is a space where learning and growing are most likely to happen. If you get set in your ways and become unsatisfied but comfortable, you’ll never learn anything different unless you’re willing to put yourself in a scary position. Holden Desalles

At 27, I can talk to my parents and see that while they’ve done a lot of amazing things with their lives, there are still doubts and insecurities that they’re holding on to and trying to make sense of. Answers don’t come with age. Age provides perspective, but life wasn’t designed with a point at which it definitively gets easier. Jana Eleanor

Remember in your late teens and early 20s when your friends would get knocked up and you’d be like, HA-HA, sucker! Have fun milking your boobs while I hit ~da club~? Well, here’s your karmic payback: age appropriate people are tying the knot left and right and YOU’RE NOT ONE OF THEM. Stephanie Georgopulos

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

Positive, healthy, loving relationships in your twenties… I don’t know if anyone would disagree with it: I think they’re the exception, not the norm. People are either playing house really aggressively because they’re scared of what an uncertain time it is, or they’re avoiding commitment altogether. Lena Dunham

I lived my twenties in a very public manner and if anyone’s twenties are documented it’s not always going to be pretty. Sienna Miller

I think, for the majority of my twenties, I was always so concerned with what I didn’t have, or what I still wanted. Adam Lambert

I feel like you don’t know if someone’s equipped for a romantic relationship until they’re out of their twenties. Lena Dunham

[H]appiness comes out of being willing to do your work in your twenties to find out who you are, what you love. Candace Bushnell

In my early twenties, I had no idea who I was. And I think that’s one reason you should try different relationships. I’ve had good and bad ones, but I took away things from them that helped me become who I am. Cobie Smulders

I look back on my 20s. It’s supposed to be the prime of your life, the most vital, the most beautiful. But you’re making your critical decisions and sometimes your most critical mistakes. Ann Brashares

I thought I knew everything about love and relationships in my 20s, the ignorance of youth is bliss. As you get older, you start to realise that you dont really know anything and life is a great traveling journey. Life is unexpected…you just never know whats going to happen. Reese Witherspoon

As a kid I had dreams about being successful, thinking it would be cool. Then, when I was in my 20s, I really thought I had it much more figured out than I do now. Ben Stiller

You go through different phases and points in your life and thats interesting. Someone may turn 40 and be thrilled to be out of their 30s, you know, but I dont think about it a lot. I feel younger than I did years ago. I have a better sense of myself and what I’m willing to accept in personal and business relationships. That can only come with age, so I value the toll those years have taken on me for the positive aspects theyve brought. I wouldnt want to relive the drama of my early 20s because those were very angst-ridden. Adrien Brody

All I’m saying is that when you’re in your 20s, it’s easy to sit in your ivory tower/ seventh story walk-up apartment and talk about what you’ll want in ten years. There are plenty of things I never thought about wanting ten years ago that are very important to me now. Health insurance, for one… It just seems shortsighted when people are like: “Of course I don’t want kids. I have red wine and/ or Xbox and 1,300 Twitter followers, and that’s all I’ll ever need.” I’m keeping my options open. Josh Gondelman

Once I hit 25 and exited the coveted 18-24 age bracket, I was like, “Whatevs. Just wake me when I’m 30.” 26 doesn’t feel much different than 25. They seem interchangeable. They leave the same impression. Both feel very young adult. Ryan O’Connell