“Boys! Are they always this impossible? Do they always say cryptic, indecipherable things? (Note
to self: work with Liz to adapt her boy-to-English translator into a more mobile form—like maybe a
watch or necklace.)”

“There will always be something to do, my boy;
There will always be wrongs to right;
There will always be need for a manly breed
And men unafraid to fight.
There will always be honor to guard, my boy;
There will always be hills to climb,
And tasks to do, and battles new
From now to the end of time.There will always be dangers to face, my boy;
There will always be goals to take;
Men shall be tried, when the roads divide,
And proved by the choice they make.
There will always be burdens to bear, my boy;
There will always be need to pray;
There will always be tears through the future years,
As loved ones are borne away.”

“Boys are like drugs,' her father said, 'just say no.”

“Why is it, she wondered now, that boys get to do things and be things and girls only get to watch?”

“The genius of the English has always been their ability to adapt.”

“I am not collecting copies of the cheaper editions of Omar Khayyám. I gave the last four that I received to the lift-boy, and I like to think of him reading them, with FitzGerald's notes, to his aged mother. Lift-boys always have aged mothers; shows such nice feeling on their part, I think.”

“Why do boys say someone acts like a girl as if it were an insult?”

“Bad boys making moves like a magician
always on their hustle like a tactician
see the streets, me I say you be average man
one blood, one nation, African”

“The right boys I always toss and the wrong ones I keep on top of me like paperweights.”

“I thought she'd make some comment about the bloodthirsty gods chasing us, but when she finally found her voice, she said, "That boy kissed you!"
Leave it to Liz to have her priorities straight.”