“I was as foolish as I had ever been, no, even stupider, for the gullibility of a boy is fatuousness in a man.”

“Italy, all the same, had spoiled a great many people; he was even fatuous enough to believe at times that he himself might have been a better man if he had spent less of his life there.”

“It was over now, and the meaningless world was tolerable and need not be explained. And never would it be, and how foolish I had ever been to think so.”

“The stupidest man I ever met had a favourite saying.It was:'What do you think I am, stupid, or something?”

“I conceive that the right way to write a story for boys is to write so that it will not only interest boys but strongly interest any man who has ever been a boy. That immensely enlarges the audience.”

“The room fell quiet. And as I read down the list of over one hundred and fifty eight-grade boys, I realized that to me, there had only ever been one boy.”