Childhood is not only the childhood we really had but also the impressions we formed of it in our adolescence and maturity. That is why childhood seems so long. Probably every period of life is multiplied by our reflections upon the next.
Source: In The Speaker's Electronic Reference Collection, AApex Software, 1994.
-- Cesare Pavese, (Sep 9 1908-1950), Italian poet, critic, novelist, translator; He introduced many modern U.S. and English writers to Italy.