How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Most folks think you start to be a real adult when you're fifteen or sixteen years old, but that's not true, it really starts when you're around six. It's at six that grown folks don't think you're a cute little kid anymore, they talk to you and expect that you understand everything they mean. (1.24-25)
Hey, we remember being six, and we think Bud is right on with this one. This is around the time you get into trouble a lot more for "knowing better." It must be even worse for Bud and Bugs, since life during the Depression is really, really tough—and it seems like these kids are supposed to know it.
Quote #2
There comes a time when you're losing a fight that it just doesn't make sense to keep on fighting. It's not that you're being a quitter, it's just that you've got the sense to know when enough is enough. (2.1)
Wow! How could a kid know that? Bud is special partly because he remembers some great advice his mother gave him when he was pretty young. This is one of many examples of adult wisdom being passed on to kids in the book, and it shows how big of an influence a good parent can be.
Quote #3
It seemed like he knew some of the same things I know, the things I think of all the time and try to remember so I don't make the same mistake more than seven or eight times. Shucks, I've got so many of them rememorized that I had to give them numbers, and it seemed like Todd knew Number 3 of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. (2.14)
Are you taking notes? We are. What a fantastic idea to keep track of all the hard lessons you learn in life so that you don't forget them. We wish we would have started this when we were, oh, six years old. It might have kept us out of trouble. Maybe…