Quotes about boys
page 15

Kent Hovind photo
Don Cherry photo
John Fletcher photo

“Three merry boys, and three merry boys,
And three merry boys are we,
As ever did sing in a hempen string
Under the gallow-tree.”

John Fletcher (1579–1625) English Jacobean playwright

Act III, scene 2. Song.
Rollo, Duke of Normandy, or The Bloody Brother, (c. 1617; revised c. 1627–30; published 1639)
Variant: Three merry boys, and three merry boys,
And three merry boys are we,
As ever did sing in a hempen string
Under the gallow-tree.

Jeremy Clarkson photo

“As a boy, I was extremely shy, certainly as a result of my upbringing. I was an expert blusher, and some of my harsh actions may echo this shyness by way of compensation.”

Günter Brus (1938) Austrian artist

Source: Nervous Stillness on the Horizon (2006), P. 51 (Gunter Brus in conversation with Johanna Schwanberg,graz,16 April 1997,in connection with an interview for the Spectrum section of the newspaper Die Presse, published in the issue of 26 April 1997 under the title Ich war Spezialist im Erroten, p. III.)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi photo
Plutarch photo

“When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men."”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Of Agesilaus the Great
Laconic Apophthegms

Vincent Gallo photo
George William Curtis photo
John Stuart Mill photo
Valentine Blacker photo

“Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry!”

Valentine Blacker (1778–1826) British colonial administrator

From the poem "Oliver's Advice" http://books.google.com/books?id=JmEaAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Oliver%27s+Advice%22+Cromwell&q=%22Oliver%27s+Advice%22+Cromwell#v=snippet&q=%22Oliver's%20Advice%22%20Cromwell&f=false by William Blacker, published under the pseudonym Fitz Stewart in The Dublin University Magazine, December 1834, p. 700. This line by a different Colonel Blacker is paraphrased from an attribution to Oliver Cromwell (hence the poem's title).
Misattributed

Muhammad photo
Joycelyn Elders photo

“If you say children wouldn't know anything about masturbation on their own, you've never changed a little boy's diaper.”

Joycelyn Elders (1933) American pediatrician, public health administrator, and former Surgeon General of the United States

"Dr. Joycelyn Elders is so fucking cool", 2007-06-04, Jessica Valenti, w:Jessica Valenti, 2014-05-23, Feministing.com http://web.archive.org/web/20070713094431/http://feministing.com/archives/007116.html,
Masturbation

Neil Diamond photo
Lucius Shepard photo
Philip Oakey photo
Orson Scott Card photo
Truman Capote photo
Charles Dickens photo

“Don't you be afraid of hurting the boy,' he says.”

Source: Bleak House (1852-1853), Ch. 22

Richard Rodríguez photo

“Surely these fine athletes, those boys of summer, have found their measure of ruin.”

Roger Kahn (1927–2020) American baseball writer

Source: The Boys Of Summer, Lines On The Transpontine Madness, p. xxi

John Fante photo
Henry Adams photo
Peter L. Berger photo
Tom DeLay photo

“We've already found a secret memo coming out of the Justice Department. They're now going to go after 12 new perversions, things like bestiality, polygamy, having sex with little boys and making that legal. Not only that, but they have a whole list of strategies to go after the churches, the pastors, and any businesses that tries to assert their religious liberty. This is coming and it's coming like a tidal wave.”

Tom DeLay (1947) American Republican politician

[2015-06-30, Steve Marlsberg Show, Newsmax TV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZy8V7NAagQ], quoted in [2015-07-01, Tom DeLay Knows Of Secret DOJ Memo To Legalize '12 New Perversions,' Including Bestiality And Pedophilia, Kyle Mantyla, Right Wing Watch, 2015-07-03, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tom-delay-knows-secret-doj-memo-legalize-12-new-perversions-including-bestiality-and-pedophi]
2010s

Svetlana Alexievich photo
John Aubrey photo
Halldór Laxness photo
Bill Engvall photo
Chris Rea photo
Henry Adams photo
George Long photo
Nicole Krauss photo
Philip Plait photo

“What I have discovered in 20 years of studying the universe, from here to there to everywhere, is that the universe is complicated, and when things happen, it is almost never like ‘A happened and therefore B’. No, A happened and therefore B, C, D and E, but then there is this thing F, and that had a 10% effect, and that prompted G to go back and tip over A, and it is always like this – everything is interconnected. And so a lot of these far-right fundamentalist religion people, and a lot of these people who are anti-global warming, anti-evolution, anti-science, what they do is they take advantage of the fact that things are complicated, and their lives are based on things being simple – if we do this, then this will happen – if we invade Iraq, we will be treated as liberators, if we pray, then good things will happen, and this stuff is wrong. But we have a culture where people are brought up to believe in simplicity, and if A then B. And so when you point out that scientists say the earth is warming, but we had a really devastating winter this year, then these people will say “oh, obviously global warming is wrong.””

Philip Plait (1964) astronomer, skeptic

No, global warming can cause worse winters locally. It’s complicated. But people don’t want to hear “it’s complicated”, and boy, the conspiracy theorists and anti-scientists take full advantage of that.
Skepticality http://www.skepticality.com/index.php ep. 52 http://www.skepticality.com/notes/sn_Ep52.php (15 May 2007) 23:11 - 24:46
Interviews

Birju Maharaj photo
Kenneth Grahame photo
Bernard Cornwell photo
Mark Ames photo

“Zero tolerance policies, heavy police responses to what would have once been considered empty boy boasting, and the increased fear and suspicion that they inspire only fuel more rage. The toxic school culture is only reinforced by repressive measures.”

Mark Ames (1965) American writer and journalist

Part V: More Rage. More Rage., page 177.
Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion, From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005)

Diogenes Laërtius photo

“Aristippus being asked what were the most necessary things for well-born boys to learn, said, "Those things which they will put in practice when they become men."”

Diogenes Laërtius (180–240) biographer of ancient Greek philosophers

Aristippus, 4.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 2: Socrates, his predecessors and followers

Oriana Fallaci photo
Johannes Brahms photo
John Banville photo
Robert Crumb photo
Kathleen Hanna photo

“Because we don't wanna assimilate to someone else's (boy) standards of what is or isn't.”

Kathleen Hanna (1968) American musician and feminist activist

As quoted in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, Paul Du Noyer, ed. (2003).
On riot grrrl

Michael Howard photo

“Let me make it clear: this grammar school boy will take no lessons from that public school boy on the importance of children from less privileged backgrounds gaining access to university.”

Michael Howard (1941) British politician

Hansard http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo031203/debtext/31203-03.htm#31203-03_wqn4, House of Commons, 6th series, vol. 415 col. 498
At Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons, December 3, 2003

Orson Scott Card photo

“Boys always argued as if they knew then had the forces of logic on their side, even when they were being completely irrational.”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Homecoming saga, Earthborn (1995)

Stephen King photo
William Empson photo

“Shall I make it clear, boys, for all to apprehend,
Those that will not hear, boys, waiting for the end,
Knowing it is near, boys, trying to pretend,
Sitting in cold fear, boys, waiting for the end?”

William Empson (1906–1984) English literary critic and poet

"Just a Smack at Auden" (1937), line 15; cited from John Haffenden (ed.) The Complete Poems (London: Allen Lane, 2000) p. 81.
The Complete Poems

Orson Scott Card photo
Frankie Howerd photo
Ursula K. Le Guin photo
Amir Khan (boxer) photo

“I was a mummy's boy; I still am. My mum still gets rid of the spiders off my walls. She comes over, picks them up and chucks them outside. There may be one in my bedroom, and I'll never sleep.”

Amir Khan (boxer) (1986) British boxer

Interview in Daily Telegraph 2 Dec 2011 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxing/8928423/Im-never-scared-its-in-the-blood-Amir-Khan-interview.html

Murasaki Shikibu photo
Berthe Morisot photo

“I sat very still, as befitted a small boy among strangers, staring wide-eyed into a world I did not know. I was six years old and my father was dying.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Lonesome Gods (1983), Ch. 1, first lines

Emma Watson photo
Vincent Van Gogh photo

“And my intention is to try to form a collection of many such things, which would not be quite unworthy of the title 'heads of the people.' By working hard, boy, I hope to succeed in making something good. It isn't there yet, but I aim at it, and struggle for it. I want something serious, - some thing fresh - something with soul in it! Forward - forward”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

quote in his letter to brother Theo, from The Hague, The Netherlands, 3 Jan. 1883; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 257), pp. 20-21
1880s, 1883

Anatole France photo

“It was one of the deadliest and heaviest feelings of my life to feel that I was no longer a boy. From that moment I began to grow old in my own esteem — and in my esteem age is not estimable.”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

George Gordon, Lord Byron, from The Works of Lord Byron, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1901), vol. V: Letters and Journals, ch. XXIII: "Detached Thoughts" (15 October 1821 - 18 May 1822), paragraph 72 (p. 445)
Misattributed

Martin Amis photo
Babe Ruth photo
Orson Pratt photo

“He saw in this light two glorious personages, one of whom spoke to him, pointing to the other, saying, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him."”

Orson Pratt (1811–1881) Apostle of the LDS Church

This was a glorious vision given to this boy.
Journal of Discourses 14:141 (March 19, 1871).
Joseph Smith Jr.'s First Vision

Harry Chapin photo
Babe Ruth photo

“Brother Matthias had the right idea about training a baseball club. He made every boy on the team play every position in the game, including the bench. A kid might pitch a game one day and find himself behind the bat the next or perhaps out in the sun-field. You see Brother Matthias' idea was to fit a boy to jump in in any emergency and make good. So whatever I have at the bat or on the mound or in the outfield or even on the bases, I owe directly to Brother Matthias.”

Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player

On the mentoring he received from Brother Matthias Boutlier, Prefect of Discipline at St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, in "Ruth, As a Kid, Learns to Play in Any Position" http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1920/08/09/page/15/ by Ruth, as told to Westbrook Pegler (uncredited), in The Chicago Tribune (August 9, 1920), p. 15; reprinted as "We Did Everything," https://books.google.com/books?id=SAAlxi-0EZYC&pg=PA6&dq=%22Brother+Matthias+had+the+right+idea%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjv7_zWgLnQAhUJ7yYKHZQFA_EQ6AEIGjAB#v=onepage&q=%22Brother%20Matthias%20had%20the%20right%20idea%22&f=false in Playing the Game: My Early Years in Baseball (2011), p. 6

William Foote Whyte photo
Phil Brooks photo

“Punk: I can't help but feel a little resp… hell, who am I kidding? I feel like I started this whole thing. This is all my fault. I've been at the epicenter of everything controversial ever since you took over—actually, since before that, I'm sure you remember, John-Boy.
Cena: I was there.
Punk: You were there. I'm the guy that made walking out look cool. The thing about is I think everybody in the parking lot having a picnic right now have completely misunderstood what I was trying to do. See, I didn't break my contract, I didn't break my word. My contract expired, and I was trying to prove a point to an entire company, not just one man. If anybody has any reason to walk out of the WWE, well you can probably put me at the top of that list. I mean, my microphone constantly cuts out, your friend Kevin Nash runs through the… well, slowly, briskly runs through the crowd, jumps me and screws me not once, but twice. Somebody here doesn't want me to be the WWE Champion. The thing about it is this entire industry is based on men solving their problems in between these ropes. This is the company that gives you Hell in a Cell, this is the company that gives you the Elimination Chamber. I don't wanna sound like a broken record, but "unsafe working environment"? I thrive on that! Hell, this is professional wrestling, this ain't ballet! If you believe in something, you stand and you fight, and you fight on the front line; you don't have a hippie sit-in and grill tofu dogs in the parking lot like a bunch of hippies. [To Triple H] When I had a problem with you and your authority, I dealt with you personally. [To Cena] And you, you big boy scout, when I had a problem with you being the poster boy for this company, I dealt with you personally. Shea-Mo, I'm sure sooner or later, you're gonna step on my toes, I will deal with you personally. Now, I know you three smiley good guys look across the ring from me, and I'm the last guy you expect to see here, [to Triple H] and I know I'm the last guy you expect to see in the foxhole with you. But you know what? Here I am. So… so I got a question—what do we do now?
Triple H: "What do we do now?" That's a big question, "what do we do now?" I say we do what we do on Monday Night Raw—we shut up and fight! How about this? As long as you guys are in agreement, Sheamus, you got yourself a match, fella. Tonight, right here, right now, you will go one-on-one with… [Punk raises his hand] one John Cena. And since I'm the only guy kinda wearing stripes out here, I'll referee. And, foxhole buddy, I got a whole table over there lined up with headphones and pipe bombs just waiting for you with your name on it. And if you want, you can go over there and say anything you feel like.
Punk: You want me to do commentary?!
Triple H: I want you to do commentary.
Punk: Can I wear your blazer?!
Triple H: You can even wear my blazer!
Punk: I'm in!”

Phil Brooks (1978) American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist

October 10, 2011
WWE Raw

John Stuart Mill photo
Joan Baez photo

“We are the warriors of the sun
The golden boys and the golden girls
For a better world”

Joan Baez (1941) American singer

Children of the 80's (1980)

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis photo
Dave Eggers photo
Nathalia Crane photo

“Oh I'm in love with the janitor's boy,
And the janitor's boy loves me;
He's going to hunt for a desert isle
In our geography.”

Nathalia Crane (1913–1998) American writer

"The Janitor's Boy"
The Janitor's Boy And Other Poems (1924)

Bill Maher photo
David Berg photo
Matthew Stover photo
Mr. T photo
Saki photo
Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

“When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

As quoted in Baseball's Greatest Quotes (1992) by Paul Dickson; cited in "Game Day in the Majors" at the Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/robinson/jrgmday.html

Madonna photo

“His bow, a light burden for glad shoulders, the boy Hylas bears.”
Tela puer facilesque umeris gaudentibus arcus gestat Hylas.

Source: Argonautica, Book I, Lines 109–110

Pranab Mukherjee photo

“Hearty congratulations to the King and Queen of Bhutan on the birth of a baby boy”

Pranab Mukherjee (1935) 13th President of India

Twitter Post on Bhutan's Queen giving birth to a baby boy, quoted on India.com (February 7, 2016), "President Pranab Mukherjee congratulates Bhutan Royal couple on birth of baby boy" http://www.india.com/news/india/president-pranab-mukherjee-congratulates-bhutan-royal-couple-on-birth-of-baby-boy-925822/

John Crowley photo
Clive Staples Lewis photo

“A man, an adult, is precisely what [Aeneas] is: Achilles had been little more than a passionate boy.”

A Preface to Paradise Lost (1942), Chapter 6: "Virgil and the Subject of Secondary Epic"

Ursula K. Le Guin photo
James Thomas Fields photo
Walt Disney photo
Holly Johnson photo
Pauline Kael photo
Tim McGraw photo

“I may be a real bad boy, but baby, I'm a real good man.”

Tim McGraw (1967) American country singer

Real Good Man
Song lyrics, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors (2002)

Ann Coulter photo

“You don't want the Republicans in power, does that mean you want a dictatorship, gay boy?”

Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator

In response to a student's question: "You don't want the Democrats in power, so does that mean you want a dictatorship?"; after her address "Liberals Are Wrong About Everything" at Indiana University (23 February 2006).
2006

David Morrison photo
John D. Carmack photo
John Stuart Mill photo
John Banville photo
Nicole Richie photo
Nadine Dorries photo

“Two posh boys who don't know the price of milk”

Nadine Dorries (1957) British politician

Comment http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17815769 about Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, 23 April 2012