International Youth Day (IYD) is observed every year on Aug 12 to celebrate the potential of youth as partners in today's global society. Every year a new theme is promoted to help the government to draw attention to the youth issues around the world. This year, the theme of International Youth Day is "Youth Building peace." International Youth Day 2017 is dedicated to young people's contributions to avoid conflicts as well as inclusion, sustainable peace, and social justice.
In 1998, the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth recommended the annual celebration of International Youth Day. The following year it was endorsed by the UN Assembly and the commemorative day has been celebrated each year on 12 August ever since.
According to UNESCO, "IYD is an annual celebration of the role of young women and men as essential partners in change, as well as an opportunity to raise awareness of the challenges and hardships facing the world's youth."
In keeping with the day, IBTimes Singapore has listed some inspirational quotes for and about the youth across the globe.
- Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young. – J.K Rowling
- You are only young once, and if you work it right, once is enough. – Joe E. Lewis
- Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor. – Euripides
- Young people need models, not critics. – John Wooden
- You're only young once, but you can be immature forever ― Germaine Greer
- Middle age is youth without levity, and age without decay. – Doris Day
- If I have known much trouble in my youth, I have also known much joy. – Clara Schumann
- An inordinate passion for pleasure is the secret of remaining young. – Oscar Wilde
- Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has. – Anita Brookner
- Youth is wasted on the young. – George Bernard Shaw