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BOYS --- BRAGGING
BRAIN (THE) -- BRAVERY
BREAKFAST --- BREAKING UP

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.
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BOYS

see "AGE" for related links
see "HOME & FAMILY" for related links
see "THE HUMAN RACE" for related links


If a boy is not trained to endure and to bear trouble, he will grow
up a girl; and a boy that is a girl has all a girl's weakness without
any of her regal qualities. A woman made out of a woman is God's
noblest work; a woman made out of a man is His meanest.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)
American Congregational minister;
[brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher].

The fact that boys are allowed to exist at all is
evidence of a remarkable Christian forbearance
among men.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
American writer

I am convinced that every boy, in his heart,
would rather steal second base than an
automobile.
--Thomas Campbell Clark (1899-1977)
American lawyer, Attorney General, and
Justice of the Supreme COurt [1949-1967]

Little boys may be an intolerable nuisance; but
when they are not there we regret them, we find
ourselves homesick for their very intolerableness.
--Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
English novelist,
_Beyond the Mexique Bay_

The parent who could see his boy as he
really is would shake his head and say:
"Willy is no good: I'll sell him."
--Stephen Butler Leacock (1869-1944)
Canadian humorist

Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them
on the way, in that enchanted place on the top
of the forest, a little boy and his Bear will
always be playing.
--A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne (1882-1956)
English writer for children

-

TOPICAL

[...] Anyone with a child in school knows the signs all too well. I am
intrigued by the faith parents now invest - the craze began about 1990 -
in psychologists who diagnose their children as suffering from a defect
known as attention deficit disorder, or ADD. Of course, I have no way
of knowing whether this "disorder" is an actual, physical, neurological
condition or not, but neither does anybody else in this early stage of
neuroscience. The symptoms of this supposed malady are always the
same. The child or, rather, the boy - forty-nine out of fifty cases are
boys- fidgets around in school, slides off his chair, doesn't pay attention,
distracts his classmates during class, and performs poorly. In an
earlier era he would have been pressured to pay attention, work harder,
show some self-discipline. To parents caught up in the new intellectual
climate of the 1990s, that approach seems cruel, because my little boy's
problem is ... *he's wired wrong!* The poor little tyke - *the fix has been in
since birth!* Invariably the parents complain, "All he wants to do is sit in
front of the television set and watch cartoons and play Sega Genesis."
For how long? "How long? For hours at a time." Hours at a time; as
even any young neuroscientist will tell you, that boy may have a problem,
but it is not an attention deficit.
--Tom Wolfe (1931- )
American journalist and novelist,
_Hooking Up_ [2000]
(ellipsis & emphasis in original text)




BRAGGING

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.

see also: "CONCEIT"
see also: "EGOTISM"
see also: "HUBRIS"
see also: "NOISE"
see also: "PRIDE"
see also: "SNOBS"
see also: "TALK TOO MUCH"
see also: "VANITY"
see "COMMUNICATION" for other related links


^

Ali, Muhammed (1942- )
American boxer, Olympic gold medalist,
and world heavyweight champion [1964-1971,
1974-1978, 1978-1980]. Born Cassius Clay,
he converted to Islam.

Irritated by Ali's perpetual boasts of ''I am
the greatest,'' a colleague asked the boxer
what he was like at golf. '' I'm the best,''
replied Ali. ''I just haven't played yet.''

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

Boast is always a cry of despair, except in the young it is a cry of hope.
--Bernard Berenson (1865-1959)
Lithuanian-born American art critic and historian

Fools carry their daggers in their open mouths.
--Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818-1885)
American humorist

Self-laudation abounds among the unpolished; but nothing can
stamp a man more sharply as ill-bred.
--Charles Buxton (1823-1871)
English author

Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe,
Sadder than owl songs or the midnight blast,
Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so."
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788-1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist,
_Don Juan_, Canto XIV [1823], Stanza 50

Be wiser than other people, if you can;
but do not tell them so.
--Lord Chesterfield [Philip Dormer Stanhope] (1694-1773)
British writer and politician,
letter to his son [19 November 1745]

I am that same David Crockett, fresh from
the backwoods, half horse, half alligator,
a little touched with the snapping-turtle.
I can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio,
ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip
without a scratch down a honey-locust. I
can whip my weight in wildcats, and, if
any gentleman pleases, for a ten-dollar
bill he can throw in a panther. I can hug
a bear too close for comfort, and eat any
man opposed to General Jackson.
--David Crockett (1786-1836)
American folk hero who died at the Alamo
--_David Crockett: His Life & Adventures_,
by John S.C. Abbott [1874]

There is no need to show your ability before everyone.
--Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658)
Spanish Jesuit philosopher

A man who shows me his wealth is like a
begger who shows me his poverty; they are
both looking for alms -- the rich man for
the alms of my envy, the poor man for the
alms of my guilt.
--Ben Hecht (1893-1964)
US novelist, playwright, screenwriter,
_A Child of the Century_

It is far more impressive when others discover
your good qualities without your help.
--Judith "Miss Manners" Martin (1938- )
American newspaper columnist

The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your
friends that you know famous men proves only that
you are yourself of small account.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
English novelist,
_The Summing Up_ [1938]

Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman
is always looking for someone to complain to.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956)
American journalist and literary critic

Do you wish people to think well
of you? Don't speak well of your-
self.
--Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
French mathematician, physicist, and moralist,
_Pensées_ [1670], no. 4

It will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.
--William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
English dramatist

Tell me what you brag about and I'll tell you what you lack.
--Spanish proverb

It therefore comes to pass that everyone is fond of
relating his own exploits and displaying the strength
both of his body and his mind, and that men are on
this account a nuisance one to the other.
--Benedict de [Hebrew forename Baruch] Spinoza (1632-1677)
Dutch-Jewish philosopher, the foremost exponent of 17th
century Rationalism, _Ethics_ [1677] pt. III

I mustn't go singling out names. One must
not be a name-dropper, as Her Majesty
remarked to me yesterday.
--Norman St. John Stevas (1904-1984)
American jazz pianist and composer,
In "Treasury of Humorous Quotations,"
eds. William Cole and Louis Phillips [1996]

-

^

Twain, Mark [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] [1835-1910]
American humorist, writer, and lecturer.

Mark Twain loved to brag about his hunting and fishing
exploits. He once spent three weeks fishing in the
Maine woods, regardless of the fact it was the state's
closed season for fishing. Relaxing in the lounge car
of the train on his return journey to New York, his
catch iced down in the baggage car, he looked for
someone to whom he could relate the story of his
successful holiday. The stranger to whom he began
to boast of his sizable catch appeared at first
unresponsive, then positively grim. 'By the way,
who are you, sir?' inquired Twain airily. 'I'm the
state game warden,' was the unwelcome response.
'Who are you?' Twain nearly swallowed his cigar.
'Well, to be perfectly truthful, warden,' he said
hastily, 'I'm the biggest damn liar in the whole
United States.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

Whoo-oop! I'm the old original iron-jawed, brass-
mounted, copper-bellied corpse-maker from the
wilds of Arkansaw [sic].--Look at me! I'm the man
they call Sudden Death & General Desolation! Sired
by a hurricane, dam'd by an earthquake, half-brother
to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the
mother's side! Look at me! I take nineteen alligators
and a bar'l of whiskey for breakfast when I'm in robust
health, & a bushel of rattlesnakes & a dead body when
I'm ailing! I split the everlating rocks with my glance,
and I squench [sic] the thunder when I speak! Whoo-
oop! Stand back & give me room according to my strength!
Blood's my natural drink, & the wails of the dying is
music to my ear! Cast your eye on me, gentlemen! --
and lay low and hold your breath, for I'm bout
to turn myself loose!
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot,
_Life on the Mississippi_, Chapter 3


Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely
laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot

-

I am Xerxes, great king, king of kings, the king of all
countries which speak all kinds of languages, the king
of the entire big far-reaching earth.
--Xerxes I (519 B.C.-465 B.C.)
Persian king [486-465 B.C.],
foundation tablet at Persepolis,
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {ed.} _History in Quotations_ [2004]
{Xerxes was defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis}

-

A great man! Why, I doubt if there are
six his equal in the whole of Boston.
--said to W. E. Gladstone by an
unnamed Bostonian.

Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips.
--Proverbs 27:2 NKJV

-----

bloviate BLOH-vee-ayt, intransitive verb:
To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

braggadocio brag-uh-DOH-see-oh; -shee-oh; -shoh, noun:
1. A braggart.
2. Empty boasting.
3. A swaggering, cocky manner.

fanfaronade (noun) [fæn-fæ-rê-'neyd] ition
Verbal fanfare: boasting or blustering boisterously.
A person given to fanfaronades is a "fanfaron."

rodomontade (noun)
Boastfulness: pretentious, self-important, or self-indulgent
boasting, speech, or behavior


end page





BRAIN (THE)

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.

see "THE MIND" for related links


Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist,
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
{retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_}

I am a bear of very little brain, and long
words bother me.
--A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne (1882-1956)
English writer for children,
_Winnie-the-Pooh_ [1926], Ch. 4

Give me the young man who has brains
enough to make a fool of himself.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and novelist

Brains are never a handicap to a girl if she
hides them under a see-through blouse.
--Bobby Vinton (1935- )
American singer [1978]

-

The hypothalamus is one of the most important
parts of the brain, involved in many kinds of
motivation, among other functions. The
hypothalamus controls the "Four F's":
1. fighting;
2. fleeing;
3. feeding;
and
4. mating.
--Anonymous Psychology professor




BRAVERY

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.

see: "BOLDNESS"
see: "FEAR"
see "CHARACTER" for other related links


It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
--Aesop (c.620 B.C.-c.560 B.C.)
(thought to be a legendary figure),
"The Wolf and the Kid", _Fables_ tr. Joseph Jacobs [1894]

Thank you, madam, the agony is abated.
--Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (1800-1859)
English politician and historian.
Aged four, having had hot coffee spilt over his legs.

Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.
--Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
Scottish historian and political philosopher

We come to know best what men are,
in their worse jeopardies.
--Samuel Daniel (1563-1619)
English poet and dramatist

People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery
they might show on behalf of their nearest neighbors.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819-1880)
English novelist

A brave man is a man who dares to look
the Devil in the face and tell him he
is a Devil.
--James Garfield (1831-1881)
20th President of the United States [1881]

We are the boys
That fear no noise
When the thundering cannons roar.
--Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774)
Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and dramatist,
_She Stoops to Conquer_ [1773]

Mejor morir a pie que vivir en rodillas.
(It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.)
--Dolores Ibarruri (1895-1989)
Spanish Communist leader,
radio broadcast, Paris [3 September 1936]

True bravery is shown by performing without witness what
one might be capable of doing before all the world!
--François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)
French educator and social reformer,
_Maxims_ [1665] #216

There's a brave fellow! There's a man of pluck!
A man who's not afraid to say his say,
Though a whole town's against him.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
American poet

I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-General
Harrison hanged, drawn and quartered; which was
done there, he looking as cheerful as any man
could do in that condition.
--Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)
English diarist and naval administrator

Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery
is a much higher and truer courage.
--Wendell Phillips (1811-1884)
American abolitionist and reformer

There was once a man in China who liked pictures of dragons.
His clothing and his furniture were therefore accordingly adorned
with dragons. This deep affection for their kind was brought to the
attention of the Dragon Lord, who one day sent a real dragon to
stand outside the man's window. It is said that he probably died
of fright.
--Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659-1719)
_Hagakure_ (Hidden in the Leaves)_ [1716]
now known as __The Book of the Samurai_

Men of the South! It is better to die on
your feet than to live on your knees!
--attributed to Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919)
{Mexican revolutionary, champion of
agrarianism, who fought in guerrilla
actions during and after the Mexican
Revolution [1911-1917] - EB}

-----

doughty DOW-tee, adjective:
Marked by fearless resolution; valiant; brave.
Ex.: "He was obsessed with the Arctic, his imagination stoked by
epic accounts of the doughty pioneers who had led wooden ships
into uncharted waters and northern mists."
--Sara Wheeler, "In Cold Blood?"
_New York Times_ [25 February 2001]

temerity (noun) [tê-'me-rê-ti]
Recklessness, foolhardy disregard for danger.
The sense of today's word, the noun, is diametrically
opposed to "timidity" despite the similarity sound.



BREAKFAST

.
.

see "FOOD & DRINK" for related links


Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince,
and dinner like a pauper.
--Adelle Davis (1904-1974)
American nutritionist and author

What you need for breakfast, they say in East
Tennessee, is a jug of good corn liquor, a thick
beefsteak, and a hound dog. Then you feed the
beefsteak to the hound dog.
--Charles Kuralt (1934-1997)
American journalist and broadcaster

The only way to eat well in England is to have
breakfast three times a day.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer




BREAKING UP

.
.

see "LOVE & MARRIAGE (OR NOT)" for related links
see also: "REJECTION"


-

[ . . . ] What'll I do
When you
Are far away
And I am blue,
What'll I do?
What'll I do
When I
Am wond'ring who
Is kissing you,
What'll I do?
What'll I do
With just
A photograph
To tell my troubles to?
When I'm alone
With only
Dreams of you
That won't come true,
What'll I do? [ . . . ]

--Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
American songwriter,
"What'll I Do?" [1924 song]

-

Whereas you send unto me, willing me to confess
a truth, and so to obtain your favour ... let not your
grace ever imagine that your poor wife will ever be
brought to acknowledge a fault where not so much
as a thought ever proceeded. And to speak a truth,
never prince had wife more loyal in all duty and in
all true affection than you have ever found in Ann
Bullen - with which name and place I could willingly
have contented myself, if God and your grace's
pleasure had been so pleased.
--Anne Boleyn [also spelled Bullen] (1507?-1536)
Second wife of King Henry VIII of England
and mother of Queen Elizabeth I.
{to Henry VIII 'from my doleful prison in the Tower,
this sixth of May, 1536.'

What's new? How is the world treating you?
You haven't changed a bit, lovely as ever, I
must admit
What's new? How did that romance come through?
We haven't met since then, gee, but it's nice
to see you again
What's new? Probably I'm boring you
But seeing you is grand, and you were sweet to
offer your hand
I understand. Adieu! Pardon my asking what's new
Of course you couldn't know, I haven't changed, I
still love you so
--Johnny Burke (1908-1964)
American lyricist, "What's New?"

But to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love forever.
Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
met - or never parted -
We have ne'er been brokenhearted.
--Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Scottish poet and songwriter,
"Ae Fond Kiss"

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned,
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.
--William Congreve (1670-1729)
English dramatist,
"The Mourning Bride" [1697]

-

"Ending," by Gavin Ewart (1916-1995)

The love we thought would never stop
now cools like a congealing chop.
The kisses that were hot as curry
are bird-pecks taken in a hurry.
The hands that held electric charges
now lie inert as four moored barges.
The feet that ran to meet a date
are running slow and running late.
The eyes that shone and seldom shut
are victims of a power cut.
The parts that then transmitted joy
are now reserved and cold and coy.
Romance, expected once to stay,
has left a note saying GONE AWAY.

-

In the wee small hours of the morning,
While the whole wide world is fast asleep,
You lie awake and think about the girl
And never even think of counting sheep.
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson,
You'd be hers if only she would call.
In the wee small hours of the morning,
That's the time you miss her most of all.

--Bob Hilliard (1918-1971)
American lyricist,
"In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" [1955 song]
{music by David Mann}

-

"After A While" [1971]
by Veronica Shoffstall

After a while, you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans.
And futures have a way of falling down in midflight.

After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn...
With every goodbye, you learn.

-

I met my old lover on the street today
She seemed so glad to see me; I just smiled
And we talked about the old times, and drank
ourselves some beers
Still crazy after all these years.
--Paul Simon (1941- )
American singer and songwriter,
"Still Crazy After All These Years" [song]

Whatever happened to you, whatever happened to us
We missed the proverbial boat, the plane and the train and the bus
Push came to shove, we fell out of love, we tore each other apart...
Love is grand but I can't understand why we broke each other's heart.
--Loudon Wainwright III (1946- )
American songwriter,
"Whatever Happened to Us"

All discarded lovers should be given a
second chance, but with somebody else.
--Mae West (1892-1980)
American stage and film actress

-

Max: Bob, listen to this. She dumped me. Bob.
.... she said she never wants to see me again.
Bob McGraw: Let me tell you something about
women.......... They always say the opposite
of what they mean.
[Max reading letter]
Max: Oh yeah? "If you come within a three block
radius of my house I will have my new boyfriend,
Vito, rip off your head and spit in your neck."
Bob McGraw: You're right kid.......you've been
dumped.
--Up the Creek [1984]
Tim Matheson .... Bob McGraw
Dan Monahan .... Max


end page



| BABIES | BACH - BALLET | BANANAS - BARTENDERS | BASEBALL | BASTARDS & BATH (ENGLAND) | BE YOURSELF - BEATLES (THE) | BEAUTY | BED - BEGINNINGS | BEHAVIOR - BELIEF | BENNY (JACK) - BEST (DO YOUR) | BETRAYAL & BIBLE | BICYCLES - BIGOTRY | BILL OF RIGHTS - BIRDS | BIRTH - BIRTHDAYS | BITTERNESS & BLAIR (TONY) | BLAME - BLOGGING | BLONDES - BOOK BURNING | BODY (THE) | BOOKS | BOOMERS (THE) - BORROWING | BOSTON & BOXING | BOYS & BRAGGING | BRAIN (THE) - BREAKING UP | BREASTS - BRITAIN | BROADWAY - BUBBLES (ECONOMIC) | BUGS BUNNY - BUREAUCRACY | BURMA SHAVE - BUSYBODIES |
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