I knew he could learn — if he didn't get killed first. It was sink or swim for him — and happens he's swimming. - Esther Forbes

Most American heroes of the Revolutionary period are by now two men, the actual man and the romantic image. Some are even three men—the actual man, the image, and the debunked remains.

Marge: It's about a boy who goes to war. His hand is deformed in an accident.
Bart: Deformed? Why didn't you say so? They should call this book Johnny Deformed.

Then Johnny saw running down Cambridge road through the bushes on Charlestown Common a scurry of red ants. ... Those red ants were British soldiers. ... You could see the flash of musket fire, too far away to be heard. Fireflies swarming, hardly more than that.