Quote of the Day: Kin Hubbard on Daily Inspiration

If you’ve been waiting for a gentle nudge to take yourself more seriously, in the best way, let this dry bit of humor be your permission slip to grow up on purpose: “Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.”

The line is funny because it names something we’ve all seen: the shrug disguised as wisdom. “Boys will be boys” sounds like acceptance, but it often functions as an escape hatch, turning choices into “nature,” and consequences into someone else’s problem. Hubbard’s twist widens the frame and quietly asks a bracing question: what if time doesn’t mature us unless we decide to mature?

That’s the useful part for you, regardless of gender or age. Anywhere you feel tempted to excuse a pattern, snappishness, avoidance, impulsive spending, half-kept promises, swap the proverb for a practice: replace “that’s just how I am” with “what would the responsible version of me do next?” Accountability isn’t self-punishment; it’s self-respect. It’s how you build leadership in your home, your work, and your own mind.

Kin Hubbard, creator of Abe Martin, made a career out of plainspoken aphorisms that exposed social loopholes and everyday hypocrisy with a grin and a straight face.

January 12 carries the memory of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a reminder that when life turns in an instant, the habits we’ve practiced are what we have to stand on. Today, choose one “boys will be boys” area of your life and make it concrete: send the overdue apology, put the purchase on a 24-hour pause, or set a 10-minute timer to do the task you keep dodging. Do it once, then do it again, and let humor be the sugar that helps the medicine go down, may your next step be both steadier and kinder.