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• Boys will be boys
  Boys will be boys

  Children can be expected to act in a childish way.
• boys will be boys
  boys will be boys

  One can expect boys to act childishly or misbehave, as in We told the kids not to eat in the living room, but when we got home there was a big mess there—oh well, boys will be boys. This term came from a Latin proverb, translated as “Children [boys] are children [boys] and do childish things.” In English it was first recorded in 1589.

Boys will be boys

Cultural  

1. Children can be expected to act in a childish way.

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boys will be boys Idioms  

1. One can expect boys to act childishly or misbehave, as in We told the kids not to eat in the living room, but when we got home there was a big mess there—oh well, boys will be boys. This term came from a Latin proverb, translated as “Children [boys] are children [boys] and do childish things.” In English it was first recorded in 1589.

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“Boys will be boys” is often applied to grown men who act childishly.

Example Sentences

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Boys will be boys boys will be boys

“How powerful is that? How profound is that? Boys will be boys, and there is nothing wrong with that.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2026

Boys will be boys, as the saying goes.

From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2023

Boys will be boys, however fast their toys.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 8, 2019

Boys will be boys — or something more sinister?

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2018

Boys will be boys, though their mammas wish that they would act as sages; and they must season their heads while they are young.

From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Lewis Wingfield

Yes, boys will be boys, even if they are grown men.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

"It's due to the normalisation of these situations, the attitude that boys will be boys and it's something women should put up with," added Rhiannon, who is from Llanelli.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2025

We accept, over and over, that boys will be boys and you have to break a few eggs, etc.

From Slate ● Aug. 23, 2021

There’s room to push back on the age-old adage boys will be boys, and in exploring female anger, it allows teenage girls to truly be girls, too.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2019

Very likely some Mrs. Grundy will observe, “I don’t believe it, boys will be boys, young men must sow their wild oats, and women must not expect miracles.”

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott