
I can remember, at the age of five, being told that childhood was the happiest period of life (a blank lie, in those days). I wept inconsolably, wished I were dead, and wondered how I should endure the boredom of the years to come.
Source: On Education, especially in early childhood, 1926, Pt. 2: Education of character, chap. 4: Fear.
More info.:http://russell-j.com/beginner/OE04-140.HTM